Former esports professional and Twitch streamer, Michael ‘Shroud‘ Grzesiek, has praised Valve’s latest hero shooter in development, Deadlock, after it released its latest update.
The game has undergone the most drastic changes it has seen in months, adding content such as new heroes and quality-of-life changes, such as a pre-game lobby.
Why Are People Talking About Deadlock?
There’s been a lack of online discourse surrounding the game in 2025, leading many fans to grow concerned about the game’s future.
There are several reasons for this. The game is exclusively available on Valve’s PC launcher, Steam, and is invite-only. Changes to the game would often take months at a time, with the last update releasing back in May.
Combined with no definitive release date and the possibility of an open beta still up in the air, the game’s player counts have slowly dwindled over time until recently.
Player counts on Steam skyrocketed in light of a major update, bringing in six new heroes, map updates, and more. The update has been received positively, and fans have become more optimistic about the game’s future. Shroud added that it’s only a ‘matter of time’ before Deadlock becomes a smash hit success.
During one of his live streams, Shroud said: “I feel like a lot of people care so much about player counts, that [they] might not even play Deadlock when it comes out because of the development branch.
“But, the game will be so good that it doesn’t matter. Eventually they’ll cave and play. It’s the same sh*t as before though, [like] Vegas, still one of the best games ever made, just a matter of time.”
Shroud further sang Deadlock’s praises by complimenting the game’s art style in one of his streams, saying it has the ‘best art style out of any game.’
Can Deadlock Have a Successful Esports Scene?
The game’s competitive scene hasn’t grown to rival some of the most popular esports scenes such as Counter-Strike or League of Legends, but it has remained fairly active over the months through a series of smaller-scale tournaments.
Deadlock Night Shift is the newly rebranded successor to the Fight Night series, which held 30 tournaments in total before entering a hiatus. It adopts a similar format to Fight Nights seen in games such as Marvel Rivals, where the winners receive the grand prize of around $1,000 (~£740) and will qualify as the defending champions to defeat in the Night Shift the following week.
Though tournaments are still being held, an increasing number of esports organisations are starting to leave the scene. Earlier this week, Virtus.pro announced that it was disbanding its Deadlock roster six months after forming the team.
In the post online, Virtus.pro said: “Unfortunately, due to limited clarity on the game’s competitive future and the fact that Deadlock remains in an invite-only beta, we are stepping away from the ecosystem for now. We do not rule out a return to Deadlock in the future with a properly functioning esports roadmap in place.”
Back in May, PARAVISION also shuttered its Deadlock division, stating that ‘uncertainty’ with esports scene and a lack of ‘sustainable prospects’ caused its departure.
Despite these developments, fans remain optimistic about the game’s esports scene as the game rises in popularity. However, the prospects of a fully fledged esports ecosystem seem unlikely for now, given the game’s current state and Valve’s silence on its future.
The post “Just a matter of time”: Shroud on Deadlock’s future appeared first on Esports Insider.
