Valve is a unique game developer, at once revered for their high-quality games that scratch the itch of seasoned gamers, while also frustratingly opaque in their release schedules for said games. When news of an upcoming Valve title does leak, the online community turns out in droves to dissect it. This was the case when The Verge leaked details about Valve’s latest project: Deadlock, a cross between a MOBA and a Hero Shooter.
Deadlock is still in alpha right now, with access only granted through access keys handed out at random to Steam users or via an invite from an already-invited player. As word spread, players jumped online to check out Deadlock’s cross-genre gameplay and 1930’s occult aesthetic. While Deadlock isn’t the first 3rd person MOBA title (Smite, for example), it is receiving glowing reviews even in alpha form.
In this article, we’re looking at the initial success of Deadlock on live-streaming platforms, including the popular streamers trying out the game and the other MOBAs and Hero Shooters that have been impacted by this new competition in the field.
Unique Marketing Generates Immediate Hype for Deadlock in Early Development
Given that the game is still in alpha and not released en masse, the player base is huge. On the 16th of August, one week before the NDA was lifted on all Deadlock content, there were 20K concurrent players – just from word-of-mouth. By the time the NDA lifted on the 23rd of August, Deadlock’s concurrent player count jumped to 75K. Only at this point were streams allowed to pop up.
The fan interest online was immediate. Within just 6 days, Deadlock generated 7M hours watched with a peak viewership of 124K. This viewership came almost exclusively from Twitch, reflecting that Valve, MOBA, and Hero Shooter fans primarily use the Amazon-backed platform. It didn’t seem to bother onlookers that Deadlock was still in alpha, suggesting that not only do viewers not mind the unrefined graphical and UI elements, but perhaps that getting access to this alpha state is part of the appeal.
While there was some minor controversy around The Verge leaking Deadlock screenshots, this no doubt helped the game’s marketing campaign. An air of exclusivity shrouded the rumored new Valve game, inspiring envy from those not in the know and creating demand for Deadlock. It remains to be seen if this gimmick has provided the momentum necessary to keep Deadlock hype going now that access codes are freely available on Steam community pages.
Key Streamers Engage with Deadlock Via YouTube VODs
This marketing strategy wouldn’t have worked if the players initially given access to Deadlock weren’t a) influential and b) impressed by the game. It speaks volumes that the top streamers following the NDA being lifted were mega-popular influencers. Shroud generated the most Deadlock viewership at 756K hours watched, a full 259K hours watched ahead of second-place Russian-speaking streamer Recrent. Having key tastemakers grinding out and praising the game has led to an outpouring of fan interest (and, crucially, avoiding the hair-trigger cynicism often invoked by online communities).
Among the other top 10 streamers, xQc is notable in 5th place as being the only Kick streamer on the list (with 138K hours watched). Nix rounded out the top 10 with 101K hours watched, finding himself on yet another streaming trend after being the most popular co-streamer of the Esports World Cup.
Of course, some viewers received news of Deadlock too slowly to catch the initial streams of many big-name influencers. For these viewers, YouTube VODs were crucial to catching back up to the hype train. Brazilian streamer Alanzoka saw a massive 328K views on his August 28th YouTube VOD, providing info about the game to a crucial Portuguese-speaking segment of Valve’s fanbase. Other popular YouTube VODs belonged to many of the aforementioned streamers, with English-speaking streamers splitting viewership amongst themselves while Russian streamer Recrent claimed two of the top 10 YouTube VODs.
Deadlock Snaps Up Viewership from Other MOBA and Hero Shooter Titles
Given Deadlock’s multiple genres, insider hype, and sudden groundswell of demand, one might assume that much of its viewership comes from other games in the MOBA and Shooter genres. This holds true: Comparing the 6-day periods from before and after Deadlock’s NDA was lifted reveals that MOBA Dota 2 and Hero Shooter Overwatch 2 both saw decreases in their average minute viewerships (AMAs) of 11.9% and 6.9%, respectively. Apex Legends and Rust saw the biggest drops in AMA however, decreasing by 24.3% and 41% each. Of course, to verify whether these decreases are a result of Deadlock specifically requires a deeper look at the games’ audiences.
Looking at audience overlaps between Deadlock and other games provides corroborating evidence of this migration of viewership. Dota 2 is the strongest example, where 42.2% of people watching Dota 2 also watched Deadlock. This should come as no surprise, given that both games are not only MOBAs but also made by Valve. The strongest audience overlap is for a lesser-known MOBA called Predecessor at 42.6% – a sign that hardcore fans of niche MOBA titles most likely flock to every new MOBA they hear about.
Looking wider, every single title that lost viewership after the NDA was lifted has an audience overlap of >20% with Deadlock, including Overwatch 2 and Rust. Interestingly, Riot Games’ MOBA League of Legends and hero shooter VALORANT both had lower overlaps of just 18.6% and 16.4%, respectively.
Given the hype around Deadlock, this means serious competition for other upcoming MOBA and Hero Shooter titles. NetEase’s Hero Shooter Marvel Rivals (which releases in December this year) might weather the storm thanks to its big IP, but other titles like 3rd person MOBA Smite 2 (releasing in January 2025) might have a harder time distinguishing itself. Regardless, Deadlock is still a while away from being released – Stream Hatchet will be watching developments in the MOBA space in the meantime.
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