Deadlock Free to Play Status: Reasons To Believe It Will Remain Free
Is Deadlock free to play? Indeed, this question has plagued the community for some time now as Valve continues to release further details and grant limited access. Luckily, in this featured discussion, we’re diving into every aspect of this pertinent question.
Reasons Why Deadlock Will Remain Free to Play
Right now, in its beta test, Deadlock is free to play for the few players with access to it. Specifically, Valve is allowing specific users to invite their friends and test out the title before launching the title with a complete release.
While users fight to claim their invites to this limited playtest, everyone is wondering – will Deadlock be free to play when it is fully released?
Overall, there are several reasons to believe that Valve will keep the title free in response to the question of whether or not Deadlock will be free to play.
Reason #1 – Valve’s Passion for Free Gaming
Firstly, Valve is Valve – an industry-leading game developer with a long history of titles which have almost always been free to play. Moreover, many credit Valve with popularizing free gaming for all.
Here’s a list of Valve’s library of free-to-play titles:
- Dota Underlords
- Counter-Strike 2
- Dota 2
- Alien Swarm
- Team Fortress 2
With the incentive of encouraging users to download and use Steam, Valve has always prioritized making titles as accessible as possible. Bearing this in mind, it’s likely the answer to the question ‘will Deadlock be free to play’.
Reason #2 – Tight Esports Competition
Secondly, considering that Valve is positioning Deadlock to compete as an esport, there is a tonne of competition out there for Valve to overcome.
Deadlock free-to-play will need to become a reality considering other esports titles:
- League of Legends – the most popular MOBA esports title in the world, Riot Games’ celebrates League of Legends as a free-to-play title with access to anyone with a PC.
- Mobile Legends: Bang Bang – dominating the MOBA scene in the mobile esports industry Mobile Legends: Bang Bang is completely free-to-play.
- Overwatch 2 – considering that many compare Deadlock to Overwatch, it’s worth noting that Overwatch 2 is free-to-play across multiple platforms.
- VALORANT – these tactical shooters also celebrate being free-to-play and entirely accessible to the community.
It’s clear to see that in order to compete with other titles, Valve has no choice but to make the title free-to-play. Locking Deadlock behind a paywall would be detrimental to its popularity and success as an esport.
Reason #3 – Following the Fortnite Model
We’ve seen this before, where a publisher publicly releases a beta test before the full release to help build popularity prior to the full release.
Specifically, we’re referring to the incredible job Epic Games did with the release of Fortnite after multiple years of a ‘beta stage’.
Accordingly, Valve will likely follow this model and will keep the title completely free once the full release rolls around.
Of course, we’ll be able to answer ‘is Deadlock free to play’ only once the official Deadlock release date is confirmed.
