Its like how king of prussia wanted people to eat potatos so he banned everyone from eating them, planted them in the royal garden and told the guards to guard them poorly and take bribes.
@@user-rg9co7dk2r Kapodistrias the king of greece, and the likely real one Parmentier under napoleon. I could've sworn there was a myth in russia too but I can't find anything about it so I probably hallucinated lol.
It also changed the general vibe of typical multiplayer toxicity. Like if you're malding, in voice or text chat. EVERYONE knows that you chose to be their. Everyone knows that you're smart enough to know things and learn things on your own. Everyone knows knowone tricked you with some marketing scheme. We all know that you're enjoying the game and you're enjoying your time with us. We just know with complete certainty that you wanna complain and be mean for no reason now.
He made a video saying that exactly. He had totally lost faith in Valve as a developer because of how shit TF2 was treated. I empathize with him a lot. But I think Deadlock is fun and he clearly didn't. He also wasn't necessarily at fault for the leak. Someone in the call recorded and published it.
@@secretlyaslug2325 He was at fault, because he did leak it to those in the call. He poked a hole in the pipe causing a leak, and the hole ruptured only because of his leak. A leak he caused out of spite, which in context makes this worse as even if we take what you said entirely at face value for all we know he could've outright told someone in the call to record and publish it without us knowing. When you look at the situation, his opinions, and behavior he is at fault and needs to behave more maturely in the future and not leak stuff even to those close.
@@secretlyaslug2325 If that's true, I don't blame him. Valve hasn't been the same since Dota 7.0 And then look at how they treat CS2... I could go on an endless rant but it wouldn't make a difference.
@@VioIetteMolotov man you guys have some stupid opinions, that's how a toddler argues "oh they don't support the game i play the way i want them to, so i'm gonna fuck them over"
If Valve has been making a game with it being in a closed beta state and it's been one of the most played games on Steam as of late that should be a testament to how huge not just Steam but Valve as a whole are.
Absolutely. Valve is still really good at making games. They just tend to not do it anymore. They could probably push out every other triple AAA PC game at this point if they wanted to
Yeah, and it's not even that they manipulated their own platform, steam, to manipulate the popularity of the game, deadlock managed to reach this level using it's own merit and valve's name alone. (Totally different topic, I think it's hilarious that the account that posts patch notes, is just named "Yoshi" and has a Yoshi profile picture)
One thing that absolutely helps this kind of marketing for Deadlock is that it's Valve and that it's specifically _a new game_ from Valve so everyone and their mother wants in on it because of that alone already, and when hearing it's good (depends I guess), then they want in on it _even more_
@@h2o848 Artifact was low effort and low cost tbh, its like Bethesda creating Elder Scrolls on mobile, Blizzard creating Hearthstone etc.. Deadlock flopping would be a LOT worse
This attitude has bitten them in the ass too, the reason they didn't release shit for years was because Source 2 wasn't finished and they didn't actually put a dedicated team to work full time on the engine
not just Dane, a lot of people did, even EmpLemon did. and I did well from what I've played from deadlock, not fun for me but I have never played a moba before so I cant judge it fairly
@@prywatne4733Personally I think it's just the built-up anger and fear from abandonment by valve in games like tf2. Which, let me be clear, I completely understand, I felt the same before I actually played the game.
@@thunderspark1536agree but my opinion in all this is that people should stop complaining about it being worked on over TF2, yes it is a masterpiece of a game but people can’t hold valve to keep working on it 17 years later, it’s just not going to happen
To be honest, I thought so, too. I looked at the character roster and thought they looked bad from a visual standpoint. But once you play it, they really grow on you. They have great personalities, character, and once you know their backstories and hear their interactions with each other from how they react to deaths, each other, or killing the enemies, it really makes you like them. Valve does not miss when it comes to character designs.
it's a very complex game to master both in mechanical and decisionmaking skill, and that definitely doesn't appeal to a very wide audience. but those it does appeal to are suuuper into it!
hes probably not upset considering valve did fix tf2. still, pretty funny that the guy who did not like the game accidentally caused it to explode in popularity
I'm pretty sure he's just biased and is already looking at the game at a bad light because it seemed like Valve wasn't doing anything to fix the botting and cheating issue in TF2 and is instead focusing their resources on another game that's kind of similar but not really. A lot of TF2 players hated or still hates Deadlock because of that.
7:22 Probably didn't help that this deadlock super secret beta test happened during TF2's darkest hour A time when fix tf2 was sputtering to life. A time when the bot hosters were taunting the community. Valve seemed to care little for the cries of the folks that want to play the silly hat simulator. Even CS2 was having serious issues at the time (I don't even know if CS2's issues were fixed I don't keep up with it) It was not a fun time for anyone with an interest in TF2 Wouldn't be surprised if it was just general saltyness on Uncle Dane's part. Hell, I was salty about it at first and I don't even play tf2 anymore
for me the reason its been so popular is just that its honest quality. Like all other games you play from major studios are trying to promise the world and they keep failing. here is valve with a game you only hear about through trusted sources like your friends showing you the game that just seems good, its a moba with shooter mechanics which is novel while still combining the two most popular genres outside of asia. and when they try it its besically all you would want from it, especially if you are familiar with dota. heroes have personality despite being so early, the shopkeep refers to your character by name and mentions details. the voice work is solid. gameplay is interesting and deep while not being hard to approach. I feel that the marketing works specifically because it is just a compenent game that capitalizes peoples intrest and actually satisfies the expectations for most that hear of it, and dane wasn't mad about a new game only that its being worked on over tf2
@@j.a.m.m yea, its in beta. But there arent game shattering problems, there isnt entirely worthless stuff. Its perfectly competent and does what its trying to. Thats my point. I mean compare it to starfield, battlefield, whatever. Those games try stuff, fail, then use marketing to make up for it. This game is perfectly competent and its still explicitly in a state where the devs are unsure about the game and it can change drastically
Nah, touching TF2's code by any mean such as adding even a single weapon will upset the source spaghetti. So that's why TF2 developer team have memes that its only have potted plant and janitor working.
Uncle dane has only made the thing he swore to destroy stronger and probably isnt getting invited to any next early playtest of anything valve... "Darn..." - enginear tf2 Edit: feel free to argue bellow cose lots of peapole are alredy doing that who am i to stop you (mf welcome to teamfortress is too accurate)
@@htwo1 But the thing is: There IS no marketing with Deadlock, if we flip that logic a bit; if Valve made a game with the same exact "Guerilla Marketing" but the game is bad-- it'd flop, the exact same way Artifact did, and that also had a closed beta just like Deadlock. The simpler answer why Deadlock is huge is: It's a new IP from Valve that's actually good, that's it. (They could've market Deadlock the same way they marketed CS2 and it'd probably still be just as big, if not more.)
I think the "air of secrecy" aspect even extends to the Occult theme and style of Deadlock. Every time you agree to the early access its like you're getting your hands on prototype magic baubles from the Patron.
I think what's also helping is the fact is is an "early development build" in every sense of the term - not like a 'beta' that launches a few months/weeks/days before the main game, where basically everything is locked in place and the devs can only do bugfixes or minor balance tweaks - every two weeks there are massive updates with sweeping changes, with minor patches in-between. Several characters have placeholder models from when the game was still the Japanese cyberpunk-themed Neon Prime, there is no unnecessary monetization yet, and just this last Thursday they added a "Hero Labs" mode where you can playtest six (6) in-development heroes with blatantly unfinished models, animations, and even abilities repurposed from other heroes - it almost makes you think you're looking at an indie passion project and not something coming out of the richest game dev studio on the planet, and compared to a lot of games that are developed in a more black-box manner, people seem to really resonate with this kind of transparent out-in-the-open development from such a major studio, tightly-controlled marketing narrative be damned.
@@dangdudedan8756the game lost a chunk of their playerbase because thats how games work. When a game releases, it gets a lot of players because of the hype, Then after the hype died the game gets a more stable playerbase, and after an major update is released the playerbase increases again. Thats how games works and its completely normal a playerbase drops after some time, just look at palworld: it got a lot of player, the the game "died", then they released a major update, and then the playerbase increased again. In fact its good that games "die" no game should be designed to make its playerbase completely addicted, like live services AAA games are trying
@@dangdudedan8756 And the entitled people who can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a game that’s in early closed beta might be… gasp, unfinished and constantly and actively getting retuned, is why more devs don’t do this. The insane toxicity from basement-dwelling armchair devs that Valve would dare try something they think is dumb or bad IN THE FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT is staggering. It’s like that time that some pre alpha shit from a GTA game or something got leaked and people were whining about how bad and unfinished it looked.
Valve owns Steam. Just put it on the frontpage and there is the marketing. People forget that the games Valve makes are not the main breadmaker. Steam is. Dota 2, TF2, Deadlock and so on. These are just ways to get people to install steam. They dont bother with marketing as much as other game developers because Valve is in its full essence not a game developer but a platform owner for video games.
@@firion666Playstation and Nintendo create exclusive games for they platforms so people can buy the game with they platform, There is a reason why new announcement is treat like party by Sony and Nintendo.
@@S-treme yeah, because without making exclusives their consoles arent worth the silicon theyre made of, the difference is that steam is free and its an extremely practical service
Honestly, Valve doesn't even want to market the game yet. It is very much still in the development phase with frequent patches filled with changes. They just wanted some playtesters and ended up going viral as an unintended side effect.
I have heard of this rumor before, but I can't really find a source on if that's the case. (meet your match is awful, I don't know who thought that was a good idea)
@@htwo1I think it has to do with the fact that dane visited valve hq and also created a ton of videos that were pro comp tf2 back in the day. He was obviously very excited to see comp tf2 grow and contributed to the hype of an update focused on the competitive side of the game. Now just one person cant be held responsible for the dumpster fire that was meet your match, (especially because dane wasnt an employee), but many people now believe he was “almost solely responsible for the update”, and “killed tf2”
I think another major factor us just the fact its Valve, they don't make games all to often so hearing "new Valve game" no matter what it is will draw hype If Activision Blizzard tried shadow dropping a game like this, no one would talk about it, it's Activision Blizzard, they make like, a gajzillion dollars a week releasing slop after slop, no one would care But Valve, Valve is a company that seems dead at times, to the point where I unironically had someone who didn't know Valve made steam think Valve went bankrupt because they hadn't released a game in years (was before CS2 and HLA) and they just didn't hear about Valve at all, when a company that silent suddenly releases a game, even one in Alpha, it's going to generate buzz
Well that is kind of why Overwatch was successful even before it launched as well. Because it was the first new IP from the Blizzard side since StarCraft in 1998. In 2016 People didn't have the opinion of blizzard they do now. Not entirely. And so the whole idea of a brand new IP from Blizzard was really exciting and that alone turned a lot of heads to Overwatch with a single trailer. But Activision-Blizzard is the King of squandered potential and just ruined it like they do everything they touch now adays. The big difference between Valve and Acti-Blizz is Valve is a compotent studio when they put their mind to it.
Besides all the word-of-mouth marketing, Valve doesn't really have to worry too much about marketing or ads considering they own Steam. Whatever they make can easily get visibility there.
Still, an important thing in my opinion is that Deadlock at first glance looks like yet another moba/hero shooter, but when you play it you realize how good it is and different from everything else, so you're even more encouraged to convince your friend that they're wrong
@@dangdudedan8756 Sure it's not like everyone will have the same experience, but I'm pretty confident in stating as a fact that Deadlock is very different from other games, which helps a lot in making my scenario more common edit: Also some friends with whom I had that experience, had it with their friends, so it's not like it's a single occurence
How were the leaks "not part of Valve's plan" if they didn't require NDAs? It was obviously their exact intention. The same way some developers get "leaked" like a week before launch to generate hype, because something being leaked is way more interesting than it just coming out. And do you really think they would just allocate the huge amount of processing power required to sustain, let's say, 50k concurrent players, while only showing it to 100 guys? Very weird how they and their servers handled the leak of their online game better than most AAA publishers handle their years-in-advance launch day servers, huh?
the game took like 10 days to get up to 50k players giving them time to scale up plus they literally own steam I highly doubt valve doesnt have access to a shitton of servers also valve never really requires NDA's they'v had leaks before because of it not totally sure personally why they dont but they just dont
The funny thing, I had no idea what this game was when my friend invited me and was like cool I guess? not knowing what it was. I had this game sitting for about a few months. Then my other friend who wanted it and talked about it, and I was like. "Oh yeah, I have this game," he said. "Stop the cap; there's no way you have this game; it's not out yet," so I screen-shared. He was like, “WTF?!? How?? I’ve had this on my wishlist since they announced it! You actually weren't lying.” So apparently I had a friend who was one of the first thousands that got access to the beta, and he sent me this "Secret" beta invite. And I was apparently sitting on a gold mine for months without realizing it. Btw I got access in for this in may, meaning I would have been one of the first hundred to thousand players in the game. I didn't realize I had it until August.
Furthermore, there cannot be mainstream demand for something that doesn't exist yet downside: this game is twice as hard to get good at compared to just a moba or just a shooter lol
Valve, like any company worth their salt, is perfectly aware of the risk of a closed test with no legal obligations. It was definitely planned if you can call it that.
exactly, if they were serious about no leaks, then NDAs would have been used. so it was all part of the plan, but they wanted it to happen organically.
None of this would've mattered if not for one "small" thing: it's fun to play. It has the foundations of a good game and the team clearly understands how to build on it. Do you really think that if something like Concord tried the same "ooh, you are in on a secret" it would have succeeded?
Deadlock (aka Neon Prime aka Citadel aka Project 8) has been well known among Valve community. It has been discussed for years and the community desperately wanted to know what the game was actually about. Several stuff has been leaked within the game code from other Source 2 games few years before the major leak, like tower defense aspect, two sides fighting one another (it used to be Rebel vs Combine), shooting mechanics, and the fact it's being developed by IceFrog. When the gameplay leak happened, a lot of people disliked it (myself included because it looks complicated). So the leak certainly was not in their favor, but they somehow managed to take advantage of it really well. They kept being quiet about it and only added a few more people to the playtest. This was around June and July and the game hasn't even reached more than 3k of CCU number. The floodgate opened when that The Verge article was published. It got lots of people from Valve community flaming the journalist for not respecting the agreement. Not long after that, the restrictions were lifted and people can stream and talk about it. The reason why the game is successful is because the game is actually good and so fun to play despite it being a MOBA game. Also the game definitely has that Valve charm to it from character design, world building, and even mechanics. The game is so good it makes a lot of creators and pros to jump ship into Deadlock. And with Valve behind the game, it's certainly gonna be a successful one and will stay for a long time.
@@miguelpereira9859 I’d argue otherwise. As Niko said, Overwatch (don’t personally know about Smite) was already a disappointment since its transition to 2 was the same game just with broken promises, but Concord’s existence made this the perfect timeframe to announce Deadlock. Because of Concord’s at the time looming release and its infamy reaching its peak early this year (after checking, seems Deadlock was leaked in May), any new game that could be considered a Hero Shooter would be welcome if it looked even halfway decent.
Deadlocks huge player numbers even in closed beta reminds me of the creator of Sriracha hot sauce having absolutely no marketing team or advertisements and selling it solely by word of mouth
The PESO model in marketing would be great for you to know about in the future. Shared and Earned marketing is usually what social media is considered.
Mate, I think it's a tad bit gullable to say that Valve "did not expect and were not prepared" for a leak. They most certainly were and probably desired it, as a way to test the waters and not be in trouble in case everyone hated it, since technically they were victims of a "leak".
This is interresting in a marketing point of view but you miss something really important... this game is just good, really good. That's why so many people turned into advertisers.
The most important thing is just that the game is actually good, even in alpha. None of this organic viral marketing stuff would have worked if the game had been like... Concord.
This is literally Cartman’s marketing idea when he bought his amusement park. Valve marketing rn: “You guys can’t play here only I can ha ha ha ha! look how kewl all the rides are kyeeeelll and u cant ride!”
To add on to the video, one point I haven't seen mentioned in the video or anywhere else is that sentiment for the game is really good because those playing it are ONLY the ones who have been invited by friends, meaning the the game is much more likely to reach people who will enjoy it, as opposed to reaching everybody. There aren't people browsing steam for a new game only to find deadlock as another disappointment, and then leaving a bad review; People are inviting friends who are likely to love it. Sure, the "guerrilla marketing" helps drive popularity, but it also helps ensure good sentiment.
how is nobody talking about that the exact same thing happened with dota 2 like 11 years ago? Same Invite only system, invite your friends , same thing with it being technically not allowed to share stuff and it being in alpha for an extremely long time. Valve definitely knew what they were doing and only waiting for the leaks to start
My workmate gave me invitation over a month ago and didnt play it, didnt download it. I havent played anything since Elden Ring launch and didnt feel like theres any game that makes me want to go on PC again. Decided to give it a try with a workmate and I kind of enjoyed it and now that Im gotten used to it, its fantastic. Its nice to have something to play again with mates.
- Its exclusive - and only ppl who enjoy it will invite others (who most likely enjoy it too) - and some play for hot new content for yt and whatnot ye that is a super simple reason this worked. its like the early days of FACEBOOK tbh
I think theres also a big thing youe missing Anything valve works on is big news. Valve is notoriously known for their anazing games they dont work on anymore so any new games coming from them are gonna be big because VALVE is making it. Remember the massive thing that was CS2 announcement which was basically a engine and graphics upgrade?
Uncle Dane shit on this game? If I had a nickel for every time a Tf2ber shit on Deadlock before it’s open beta I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice. (The other TF2ber is Spaceguyonline who made an entire video about how “bad” it is.)
It is made even funnier that TF2 is closer to a Moba and people even enjoy 5CP which is close, and people have enjoyed the MvM Upgrades in PvP. Literally it is exactly what some of the community wants.
even when it wasnt allowed to be streamed or shared you were able to invite all of your friends to the game without any limits. ofc they knew someone would share leaks. Its not like a small window that popps up telling you to please not share it would hold people back. Tbf it did for a long time but they for sure knew thats gonna happen and was all part of the plan
You miss the most obvious thought: Valve planned that somebody with a medium to big profile, at some point would leak. Lol, they're in business for quite a while, they know how these things go.
Would it? I feel like it totally wouldn't. Like a steam user who didn't sign anything and doesn't even have their real name attached to their account is going to get sued for leaking? I can't imagine a court ruling in valve's favour there
It feels like less of a marketing strategy and more like a "Cat's out of the bag" thing. Valve isn't even making any kind of money out of Deadlock, they're even actively loosing money because they have to dedicate server space towards 75k+ people.
Its like how king of prussia wanted people to eat potatos so he banned everyone from eating them, planted them in the royal garden and told the guards to guard them poorly and take bribes.
This is the best comparison ive seen so far
Pretty sure that’s a myth given that there’s a version of that story for just about every European country.
@@1mikeymouse1examples? I've never heard any?
@@user-rg9co7dk2r Kapodistrias the king of greece, and the likely real one Parmentier under napoleon. I could've sworn there was a myth in russia too but I can't find anything about it so I probably hallucinated lol.
Yes gigga, it's called reverse psychology.
at the end of the day, it all comes back to TF2
what the fuck-
It's always has been TF2
The craziest part about Deadlock's marketing is how it turns YOU AND YOUR OWN FRIENDS into the ads for the game. Makes it more personal
Ah yes the klei strategy
anyone remember SUPERHOT? it's the most innovative shooter i've played in years
It also changed the general vibe of typical multiplayer toxicity.
Like if you're malding, in voice or text chat. EVERYONE knows that you chose to be their. Everyone knows that you're smart enough to know things and learn things on your own. Everyone knows knowone tricked you with some marketing scheme. We all know that you're enjoying the game and you're enjoying your time with us.
We just know with complete certainty that you wanna complain and be mean for no reason now.
@@h2o848 More like a puzzle game when it clicks. It was super awesome
It's like a Ponzi scheme of gaming
Which is funny cuz there's no way to throw money at the game yet
Something tells me Uncle Dane was just salty about TF2 getting neglected for a newer game by Valve.
He made a video saying that exactly. He had totally lost faith in Valve as a developer because of how shit TF2 was treated. I empathize with him a lot. But I think Deadlock is fun and he clearly didn't. He also wasn't necessarily at fault for the leak. Someone in the call recorded and published it.
@@secretlyaslug2325 He was at fault, because he did leak it to those in the call. He poked a hole in the pipe causing a leak, and the hole ruptured only because of his leak. A leak he caused out of spite, which in context makes this worse as even if we take what you said entirely at face value for all we know he could've outright told someone in the call to record and publish it without us knowing.
When you look at the situation, his opinions, and behavior he is at fault and needs to behave more maturely in the future and not leak stuff even to those close.
@@secretlyaslug2325 If that's true, I don't blame him. Valve hasn't been the same since Dota 7.0
And then look at how they treat CS2...
I could go on an endless rant but it wouldn't make a difference.
@@VioIetteMolotov man you guys have some stupid opinions, that's how a toddler argues "oh they don't support the game i play the way i want them to, so i'm gonna fuck them over"
I think not trusting Valve with a shooter after the failure of CS2 is pretty fair
If Valve has been making a game with it being in a closed beta state and it's been one of the most played games on Steam as of late that should be a testament to how huge not just Steam but Valve as a whole are.
Absolutely. Valve is still really good at making games. They just tend to not do it anymore. They could probably push out every other triple AAA PC game at this point if they wanted to
nah, it should be a testament to how good, addicting and fun deadlock is, and how icefrog is a genius dev
Well, they own the biggest PC game marketplace, so they kind of are on the "top of huge" :P
Yeah, and it's not even that they manipulated their own platform, steam, to manipulate the popularity of the game, deadlock managed to reach this level using it's own merit and valve's name alone.
(Totally different topic, I think it's hilarious that the account that posts patch notes, is just named "Yoshi" and has a Yoshi profile picture)
One thing that absolutely helps this kind of marketing for Deadlock is that it's
Valve
and that it's specifically
_a new game_ from Valve
so everyone and their mother wants in on it because of that alone already, and when hearing it's good (depends I guess), then they want in on it _even more_
Do not remember Artifact.
Do not remember Artifact.
Do not remember Artifact.
@@h2o848 Artifact, what's that? Never heard of that before...
@@h2o848 Artifact was low effort and low cost tbh, its like Bethesda creating Elder Scrolls on mobile, Blizzard creating Hearthstone etc.. Deadlock flopping would be a LOT worse
@@gachigasm3210 uhh... I literally religiously play Dota 2 so I'm fully aware what Artifact was... Was just being sarcastic my bad.
@@imfinishedgrinding638 well it was a reply to the guy above you.. :D just saying Artifact flopping is not that big of a deal
Valve once again wins by doing literally nothing. Is anyone surprised?
*By making actually GOOD games
The game is like drugs bro can’t stop playing
they also have lost by doing literally nothing quite a few times
@@M3Busssinsame.
This attitude has bitten them in the ass too, the reason they didn't release shit for years was because Source 2 wasn't finished and they didn't actually put a dedicated team to work full time on the engine
I find it really funny that uncle Dane thought it would be bad and then this happened
not just Dane, a lot of people did, even EmpLemon did. and I did
well from what I've played from deadlock, not fun for me but I have never played a moba before so I cant judge it fairly
@@prywatne4733Personally I think it's just the built-up anger and fear from abandonment by valve in games like tf2.
Which, let me be clear, I completely understand, I felt the same before I actually played the game.
@@thunderspark1536agree but my opinion in all this is that people should stop complaining about it being worked on over TF2, yes it is a masterpiece of a game but people can’t hold valve to keep working on it 17 years later, it’s just not going to happen
To be honest, I thought so, too. I looked at the character roster and thought they looked bad from a visual standpoint. But once you play it, they really grow on you. They have great personalities, character, and once you know their backstories and hear their interactions with each other from how they react to deaths, each other, or killing the enemies, it really makes you like them. Valve does not miss when it comes to character designs.
it's a very complex game to master both in mechanical and decisionmaking skill, and that definitely doesn't appeal to a very wide audience.
but those it does appeal to are suuuper into it!
Dane must be feeling like Oppenheimer
hes probably not upset considering valve did fix tf2. still, pretty funny that the guy who did not like the game accidentally caused it to explode in popularity
Now I am become Dane, the leaker of Lockdead.
I'm pretty sure he's just biased and is already looking at the game at a bad light because it seemed like Valve wasn't doing anything to fix the botting and cheating issue in TF2 and is instead focusing their resources on another game that's kind of similar but not really. A lot of TF2 players hated or still hates Deadlock because of that.
to think that if not for uncle dane... frickin uncle dane, we probably still wouldn't know about deadlock
whos uncle dane
@@PizzaSIut The person who made us know about Deadlock.
@@evankim2406 never heard of them lol i looked it up i see hes a tf2 guy
@@PizzaSIut did you even watch the video??
I think it wasn't planned that he will leak it, but most certainly they planned that someone would, so...
7:22 Probably didn't help that this deadlock super secret beta test happened during TF2's darkest hour
A time when fix tf2 was sputtering to life. A time when the bot hosters were taunting the community. Valve seemed to care little for the cries of the folks that want to play the silly hat simulator. Even CS2 was having serious issues at the time (I don't even know if CS2's issues were fixed I don't keep up with it)
It was not a fun time for anyone with an interest in TF2
Wouldn't be surprised if it was just general saltyness on Uncle Dane's part. Hell, I was salty about it at first and I don't even play tf2 anymore
Text chat showing up as dialogue boxes underneath your character is the funniest decision ever made.
for me the reason its been so popular is just that its honest quality. Like all other games you play from major studios are trying to promise the world and they keep failing. here is valve with a game you only hear about through trusted sources like your friends showing you the game that just seems good, its a moba with shooter mechanics which is novel while still combining the two most popular genres outside of asia.
and when they try it its besically all you would want from it, especially if you are familiar with dota.
heroes have personality despite being so early, the shopkeep refers to your character by name and mentions details. the voice work is solid. gameplay is interesting and deep while not being hard to approach.
I feel that the marketing works specifically because it is just a compenent game that capitalizes peoples intrest and actually satisfies the expectations for most that hear of it, and dane wasn't mad about a new game only that its being worked on over tf2
Eeehh, to be fair there also are several faults in the game, its not "great" by any means
Yeah that's true. I guess you can't break promises and lose trust in your company if you never make promises to begin with.
@@j.a.m.m not trying to argue, but when did you last play cause the games gotten a lot better in the past few months
I still remember when people were saying that a MOBA couldn't work as a third person shooter when it was first leaked
@@j.a.m.m yea, its in beta.
But there arent game shattering problems, there isnt entirely worthless stuff.
Its perfectly competent and does what its trying to. Thats my point.
I mean compare it to starfield, battlefield, whatever.
Those games try stuff, fail, then use marketing to make up for it.
This game is perfectly competent and its still explicitly in a state where the devs are unsure about the game and it can change drastically
The tiny sexy gargoyle probably helped as well.
I hope they release some Deadlock themed weapons for tf2
Nah, touching TF2's code by any mean such as adding even a single weapon will upset the source spaghetti. So that's why TF2 developer team have memes that its only have potted plant and janitor working.
@@michaeljo9384 you see this coconut.jpg. I don't know why but the game won't launch without it.
Uncle dane has only made the thing he swore to destroy stronger and probably isnt getting invited to any next early playtest of anything valve...
"Darn..." - enginear tf2
Edit: feel free to argue bellow cose lots of peapole are alredy doing that who am i to stop you (mf welcome to teamfortress is too accurate)
PedoDane gave Valve the key to make their game successful, I can't stop laughing
@@qualitycenter9700 pedo?
Pedodane?! What did I miss?
@@EverydayWhitey I hope he's not a terrible person, i love his content and vibes
@@holyravioli8648 I think he's alright, its probably a troll.
Atleast I hope...
It's also the fact that it's a new title from Valve, they haven't put out a new multiplayer game since Dota 2. (CS2 is just an update to CSGO)
Everyone forgets about artifact ... and that is for the best.
@@TouruZen Everyone forgot about Underlords too
It is not all thanks to guerilla marketing. A huge part of it is the fact that the game is actually good. Easy to pick up and hard to master.
yes, but the guerilla marketing wouldn't have worked anywhere near as well if the game wasn't as good
You could make the best game ever created, but if the marketing doesn't get people to play it, nobody will know about it.
@@htwo1 speaking of, try fractal block world
its valve, the guerilla marketing here was majorly just the brand name. @@htwo1
@@htwo1 But the thing is: There IS no marketing with Deadlock, if we flip that logic a bit; if Valve made a game with the same exact "Guerilla Marketing" but the game is bad-- it'd flop, the exact same way Artifact did, and that also had a closed beta just like Deadlock.
The simpler answer why Deadlock is huge is: It's a new IP from Valve that's actually good, that's it. (They could've market Deadlock the same way they marketed CS2 and it'd probably still be just as big, if not more.)
I think the "air of secrecy" aspect even extends to the Occult theme and style of Deadlock. Every time you agree to the early access its like you're getting your hands on prototype magic baubles from the Patron.
I think what's also helping is the fact is is an "early development build" in every sense of the term - not like a 'beta' that launches a few months/weeks/days before the main game, where basically everything is locked in place and the devs can only do bugfixes or minor balance tweaks - every two weeks there are massive updates with sweeping changes, with minor patches in-between.
Several characters have placeholder models from when the game was still the Japanese cyberpunk-themed Neon Prime, there is no unnecessary monetization yet, and just this last Thursday they added a "Hero Labs" mode where you can playtest six (6) in-development heroes with blatantly unfinished models, animations, and even abilities repurposed from other heroes - it almost makes you think you're looking at an indie passion project and not something coming out of the richest game dev studio on the planet, and compared to a lot of games that are developed in a more black-box manner, people seem to really resonate with this kind of transparent out-in-the-open development from such a major studio, tightly-controlled marketing narrative be damned.
the fact that the game is unfinished is also why it lost 99k players
@@dangdudedan8756 And why most of them that liked the gameplay elements will come back once the game is further along.
@@airhead7379 source?
@@dangdudedan8756the game lost a chunk of their playerbase because thats how games work.
When a game releases, it gets a lot of players because of the hype,
Then after the hype died the game gets a more stable playerbase, and after an major update is released the playerbase increases again. Thats how games works and its completely normal a playerbase drops after some time, just look at palworld: it got a lot of player, the the game "died", then they released a major update, and then the playerbase increased again. In fact its good that games "die" no game should be designed to make its playerbase completely addicted, like live services AAA games are trying
@@dangdudedan8756 And the entitled people who can’t wrap their heads around the idea that a game that’s in early closed beta might be… gasp, unfinished and constantly and actively getting retuned, is why more devs don’t do this.
The insane toxicity from basement-dwelling armchair devs that Valve would dare try something they think is dumb or bad IN THE FUCK AROUND AND FIND OUT PHASE OF DEVELOPMENT is staggering.
It’s like that time that some pre alpha shit from a GTA game or something got leaked and people were whining about how bad and unfinished it looked.
0:22 ALPHA NOT BETA
Acktually 🤓☝🏿
Early development, not alpha 😉
Valve has been cooking
1:00 its not guerilla, its grylla.
Is it a charcoal grýla or a propane grýla
GRYE-la???
GREE-la???
THERE'S A WILD GORILLA ON THE LOOSE??
Valve owns Steam. Just put it on the frontpage and there is the marketing.
People forget that the games Valve makes are not the main breadmaker. Steam is. Dota 2, TF2, Deadlock and so on. These are just ways to get people to install steam.
They dont bother with marketing as much as other game developers because Valve is in its full essence not a game developer but a platform owner for video games.
I doubt Valve needs to make games to get people to install steam tbh
@@firion666 Almost all my friends and contacts had started using Steam thanks to TF2.
@@qualitycenter9700 They did, but now without Valve's games everybody has steam anyway. With or without Deadlock, they really couldn't get bigger.
@@firion666Playstation and Nintendo create exclusive games for they platforms so people can buy the game with they platform,
There is a reason why new announcement is treat like party by Sony and Nintendo.
@@S-treme yeah, because without making exclusives their consoles arent worth the silicon theyre made of, the difference is that steam is free and its an extremely practical service
The best marketing from Valve are the Meet the Team videos for TF2 and I would certainly like to see a return to that
Honestly, Valve doesn't even want to market the game yet. It is very much still in the development phase with frequent patches filled with changes. They just wanted some playtesters and ended up going viral as an unintended side effect.
uncle dane, the same guy behind the meet your match update is the same guy behind the deadlock leaks lmao
Idk how you think dane had anything to do with meet your match. Where did you get that from?
I have heard of this rumor before, but I can't really find a source on if that's the case. (meet your match is awful, I don't know who thought that was a good idea)
@@htwo1I think it has to do with the fact that dane visited valve hq and also created a ton of videos that were pro comp tf2 back in the day. He was obviously very excited to see comp tf2 grow and contributed to the hype of an update focused on the competitive side of the game. Now just one person cant be held responsible for the dumpster fire that was meet your match, (especially because dane wasnt an employee), but many people now believe he was “almost solely responsible for the update”, and “killed tf2”
I think another major factor us just the fact its Valve, they don't make games all to often so hearing "new Valve game" no matter what it is will draw hype
If Activision Blizzard tried shadow dropping a game like this, no one would talk about it, it's Activision Blizzard, they make like, a gajzillion dollars a week releasing slop after slop, no one would care
But Valve, Valve is a company that seems dead at times, to the point where I unironically had someone who didn't know Valve made steam think Valve went bankrupt because they hadn't released a game in years (was before CS2 and HLA) and they just didn't hear about Valve at all, when a company that silent suddenly releases a game, even one in Alpha, it's going to generate buzz
Well that is kind of why Overwatch was successful even before it launched as well. Because it was the first new IP from the Blizzard side since StarCraft in 1998. In 2016 People didn't have the opinion of blizzard they do now. Not entirely. And so the whole idea of a brand new IP from Blizzard was really exciting and that alone turned a lot of heads to Overwatch with a single trailer.
But Activision-Blizzard is the King of squandered potential and just ruined it like they do everything they touch now adays.
The big difference between Valve and Acti-Blizz is Valve is a compotent studio when they put their mind to it.
Besides all the word-of-mouth marketing, Valve doesn't really have to worry too much about marketing or ads considering they own Steam. Whatever they make can easily get visibility there.
demoknight tf2
demoknight tf2
PISS OFF! - sniper tf2
Demoknight tf2
Demoknight tf2
Demoknight Team fortress two
Still, an important thing in my opinion is that Deadlock at first glance looks like yet another moba/hero shooter, but when you play it you realize how good it is and different from everything else, so you're even more encouraged to convince your friend that they're wrong
thats literally just your personal experience that you're stating as a fact.
@@dangdudedan8756 Sure it's not like everyone will have the same experience, but I'm pretty confident in stating as a fact that Deadlock is very different from other games, which helps a lot in making my scenario more common
edit: Also some friends with whom I had that experience, had it with their friends, so it's not like it's a single occurence
hopefully this is the future of marketing since I'm reallly tired of seeing ads
How were the leaks "not part of Valve's plan" if they didn't require NDAs? It was obviously their exact intention. The same way some developers get "leaked" like a week before launch to generate hype, because something being leaked is way more interesting than it just coming out.
And do you really think they would just allocate the huge amount of processing power required to sustain, let's say, 50k concurrent players, while only showing it to 100 guys? Very weird how they and their servers handled the leak of their online game better than most AAA publishers handle their years-in-advance launch day servers, huh?
the game took like 10 days to get up to 50k players giving them time to scale up plus they literally own steam I highly doubt valve doesnt have access to a shitton of servers also valve never really requires NDA's they'v had leaks before because of it not totally sure personally why they dont but they just dont
Incredibly well made video!
I feel Valve really are playing 4d chess with the way they're getting exposure for this game
The funny thing, I had no idea what this game was when my friend invited me and was like cool I guess? not knowing what it was. I had this game sitting for about a few months. Then my other friend who wanted it and talked about it, and I was like. "Oh yeah, I have this game," he said. "Stop the cap; there's no way you have this game; it's not out yet," so I screen-shared. He was like, “WTF?!? How?? I’ve had this on my wishlist since they announced it! You actually weren't lying.” So apparently I had a friend who was one of the first thousands that got access to the beta, and he sent me this "Secret" beta invite. And I was apparently sitting on a gold mine for months without realizing it. Btw I got access in for this in may, meaning I would have been one of the first hundred to thousand players in the game. I didn't realize I had it until August.
"you know what there isn't demand for? a third person competitive moba"
SPEAK FOR YOURSELF, WHERE DO I SIGN????
Furthermore, there cannot be mainstream demand for something that doesn't exist yet
downside: this game is twice as hard to get good at compared to just a moba or just a shooter lol
@@h2o848 you didn't need to sweeten the deal any more!!!
@@h2o848 "downside: skill floor is on the roof"
you don't need to give me more reasons to play this game
Valve: does no marketing, don’t care about it
UA-camrs: Valve are genius! Gorilla marketing!
Valve, like any company worth their salt, is perfectly aware of the risk of a closed test with no legal obligations. It was definitely planned if you can call it that.
exactly, if they were serious about no leaks, then NDAs would have been used. so it was all part of the plan, but they wanted it to happen organically.
I know that word of mouth is one of the best strats for marketing, but I am still itching for Deadlock's first cinematic trailer or something similar
Catch is, it only works when the game is actually good and captivating.
None of this would've mattered if not for one "small" thing: it's fun to play. It has the foundations of a good game and the team clearly understands how to build on it. Do you really think that if something like Concord tried the same "ooh, you are in on a secret" it would have succeeded?
yeah but the thing is its not fun to play actually
@@dangdudedan8756 You, of course, are completely entitled to an opinion, but you are obviously a minority.
Uncle Dane: The Advertisement Genius
Has a fellow englishman, that crappy washing machine ad with the minscule legalese at the bottom hit HARD
This whole video just makes me think of tfhypeguy carrying the entire transformers one marketing on his back
Deadlock (aka Neon Prime aka Citadel aka Project 8) has been well known among Valve community. It has been discussed for years and the community desperately wanted to know what the game was actually about.
Several stuff has been leaked within the game code from other Source 2 games few years before the major leak, like tower defense aspect, two sides fighting one another (it used to be Rebel vs Combine), shooting mechanics, and the fact it's being developed by IceFrog.
When the gameplay leak happened, a lot of people disliked it (myself included because it looks complicated). So the leak certainly was not in their favor, but they somehow managed to take advantage of it really well.
They kept being quiet about it and only added a few more people to the playtest. This was around June and July and the game hasn't even reached more than 3k of CCU number.
The floodgate opened when that The Verge article was published. It got lots of people from Valve community flaming the journalist for not respecting the agreement. Not long after that, the restrictions were lifted and people can stream and talk about it.
The reason why the game is successful is because the game is actually good and so fun to play despite it being a MOBA game. Also the game definitely has that Valve charm to it from character design, world building, and even mechanics.
The game is so good it makes a lot of creators and pros to jump ship into Deadlock. And with Valve behind the game, it's certainly gonna be a successful one and will stay for a long time.
The game isn’t in closed beta…. It’s in alpha and invite only but it’s easy to get invited
if im not mistaken its not on closed "beta", but on "alpha"! 😅😅
This is exactly what I was thinking. Also Valve definetly capitalized the death of Concord and decline of Smite and Overwatch
Concord is irrelevant
@@miguelpereira9859 I’d argue otherwise. As Niko said, Overwatch (don’t personally know about Smite) was already a disappointment since its transition to 2 was the same game just with broken promises, but Concord’s existence made this the perfect timeframe to announce Deadlock. Because of Concord’s at the time looming release and its infamy reaching its peak early this year (after checking, seems Deadlock was leaked in May), any new game that could be considered a Hero Shooter would be welcome if it looked even halfway decent.
@@Lord_Numpty you're wrong.
In this case, Valve not making games often works to their advantage. When they actually are making something, people notice.
Gabe for life. Even San Martín did the occassional, and he's still an incredibly virtuous historical figure. We love Gabe.
yeah the great mastermind marketing strategy:
making a good game
Deadlock is great and all, but "This is how you lose the time war" is really a fantastic book.
deadlock should be noted as one of the greatest marketing stunts in history
Not to mention the Hershey's vs Forrest chase 2 or 3 years ago. Less successful but still guerilla marketing
Deadlocks huge player numbers even in closed beta reminds me of the creator of Sriracha hot sauce having absolutely no marketing team or advertisements and selling it solely by word of mouth
The PESO model in marketing would be great for you to know about in the future. Shared and Earned marketing is usually what social media is considered.
Valve don't need an ad, only the sheer aura of Valve making games makes the world shaking already
When there where like 2000 players it felt amazing to get in, like you said, that popup added a feeling of amazement
They applied the same marketing strategy as Cartman in this episode of South Park in which he buys an amusement park.
Access by invite helped a lot. Made people want to send codes and feel good getting there homies in
Mate, I think it's a tad bit gullable to say that Valve "did not expect and were not prepared" for a leak. They most certainly were and probably desired it, as a way to test the waters and not be in trouble in case everyone hated it, since technically they were victims of a "leak".
This is interresting in a marketing point of view but you miss something really important... this game is just good, really good. That's why so many people turned into advertisers.
It's really fun, I'm playing with my friends religiously almost every day
i like how despite deadlock getting this big this quickly, it still feels like a secret club kinda deal
I mean the Verge likes to shoot themselves in the foot with their "journalism" anyways.
The most important thing is just that the game is actually good, even in alpha. None of this organic viral marketing stuff would have worked if the game had been like... Concord.
but the game isnt good
@@dangdudedan8756You are in a very small minority of people
The letter H
2
×
Also, also having to use your friend code to play it turns you into The multilevel marketing assistant to valve spreading the glory of deadlock
I think the Grimace Shake tik tok thing was planned. You underestimate marketing budgets
I think another good example of having people doing the advertising for you is Daniel Labell. His skits are (messy) and very entertaining!
I have literally never heard of this game until this video.
This is literally Cartman’s marketing idea when he bought his amusement park.
Valve marketing rn:
“You guys can’t play here only I can ha ha ha ha! look how kewl all the rides are kyeeeelll and u cant ride!”
To add on to the video, one point I haven't seen mentioned in the video or anywhere else is that sentiment for the game is really good because those playing it are ONLY the ones who have been invited by friends, meaning the the game is much more likely to reach people who will enjoy it, as opposed to reaching everybody. There aren't people browsing steam for a new game only to find deadlock as another disappointment, and then leaving a bad review; People are inviting friends who are likely to love it. Sure, the "guerrilla marketing" helps drive popularity, but it also helps ensure good sentiment.
my ahh really thought valve stole the name from ratchet deadlocked
Holy fucking shit the Risk of Rain 2 music in the outro gave me a jumpscare
Uncle Dane's video aged so bad
It's in early Alpha not closed beta with an invite only access.
People like Kelski already did the best part of marketing - guerilla marketing.
It is just insanely funny to me how theres torniment for a game that isnt even offically out to the public lol
i mean the whole games theme is secrecy/occult/cthulhu-esk, so kinda fits.
So i watched a 14 min video of you ASSUMING ......
how is nobody talking about that the exact same thing happened with dota 2 like 11 years ago?
Same Invite only system, invite your friends , same thing with it being technically not allowed to share stuff and it being in alpha for an extremely long time. Valve definitely knew what they were doing and only waiting for the leaks to start
A disgruntled TF2 player being the person to leak the game seems so accurate to me
Reverse phycology does wonders
THANK YOU UNCLE DANE
My workmate gave me invitation over a month ago and didnt play it, didnt download it. I havent played anything since Elden Ring launch and didnt feel like theres any game that makes me want to go on PC again. Decided to give it a try with a workmate and I kind of enjoyed it and now that Im gotten used to it, its fantastic. Its nice to have something to play again with mates.
- Its exclusive
- and only ppl who enjoy it will invite others (who most likely enjoy it too)
- and some play for hot new content for yt and whatnot
ye that is a super simple reason this worked. its like the early days of FACEBOOK tbh
I think theres also a big thing youe missing
Anything valve works on is big news.
Valve is notoriously known for their anazing games they dont work on anymore so any new games coming from them are gonna be big because VALVE is making it.
Remember the massive thing that was CS2 announcement which was basically a engine and graphics upgrade?
Clearly Htwo is the mastermind leader of Valve and is manipulating everything and this is all part of this plan. (Deadlock looks fun tho :D)
Imagine if they make deadlock just for it to get botted and save TF2
Uncle Dane shit on this game? If I had a nickel for every time a Tf2ber shit on Deadlock before it’s open beta I’d have two nickels, which isn’t a lot but it’s weird that it’s happened twice.
(The other TF2ber is Spaceguyonline who made an entire video about how “bad” it is.)
It is made even funnier that TF2 is closer to a Moba and people even enjoy 5CP which is close, and people have enjoyed the MvM Upgrades in PvP. Literally it is exactly what some of the community wants.
@@cosmicskydragon333 some
even when it wasnt allowed to be streamed or shared you were able to invite all of your friends to the game without any limits.
ofc they knew someone would share leaks. Its not like a small window that popps up telling you to please not share it would hold people back.
Tbf it did for a long time but they for sure knew thats gonna happen and was all part of the plan
You miss the most obvious thought: Valve planned that somebody with a medium to big profile, at some point would leak. Lol, they're in business for quite a while, they know how these things go.
The risk of rain outro again :D
an "informal NDA" still would probably hold up in court
Would it? I feel like it totally wouldn't. Like a steam user who didn't sign anything and doesn't even have their real name attached to their account is going to get sued for leaking? I can't imagine a court ruling in valve's favour there
And including an A.B. in the form of RoR soundtrack at the end, thats gonna be a like from me.
Invite only also boosts deadlock posts with people commenting to ask for it and boosting it in the algorithm
I didn't even know that this exsisted
I didn't even know that this exsisted
It feels like less of a marketing strategy and more like a "Cat's out of the bag" thing.
Valve isn't even making any kind of money out of Deadlock, they're even actively loosing money because they have to dedicate server space towards 75k+ people.
istg the first half of the vid made me forget that this vid was about deadlock lol