Valve's long-rumored hero shooter Deadlock is seemingly becoming more and more of an open secret with each passing day. In the closest thing to an official acknowledgement we've gotten yet, Valve has apparently filed a trademark application for the game's name.
"Deadlock trademark registration is intended to cover the categories of entertainment services, namely, providing online video games," according to US Patent and Trademark Office filings dug up by Gabe Follower on Twitter. The trademark has not yet been granted, but the application is in. The publisher had previously attempted to trademark Neon Prime, the rumored previous title of the project, but that's now a dead application.
We're reaching the point where rumors about Deadlock don't really feel like rumors anymore. Alleged leaked images hit the internet earlier in May, quickly followed by apparent in-game footage detailing 19 playable heroes, Bioshock Infinite-esque rails, and Dota-style lanes. This all seemingly ties to an ongoing playtest that's listed in the Steam backend, which has reached 1,000 concurrent players over the past few days. Apparently, some of those players have elected not to agree to whatever embargo or NDA Valve has in place.
In any case, it seems like the existence of Deadlock is now an open secret. With the Summer Game Fest schedule for 2024 set to kick off for real next week, it seems likely a proper reveal is imminent, especially given Valve's long-standing history with host Geoff Keighley.
