Deadlock is being developed by one of the co-creators of Risk of Rain.

Duncan "Hopoo Drummond", the studio's co-founder, has revealed that he's working on Deadlock, Valve’s previously open secret MOBA shooter.

Deadlock Intel, a reliable news source on the game and Discord's beta test, shared the news with X, "The Everything App". Drummond shared a short introductory message on the server, using his longtime handle Hopoo. Drummond wrote: "I'll still be around, so there's no need to cram everything in now." "Any fixes I make today are unlikely to be included in today's build. Just to set expectations."

Drummond and Paul Morse created the popular Risk of Rain roguelike series. Recently, ownership of the series, and stewardship of Risk of Rain 2, was passed to Gearbox to mixed results. On September 3, Hopoo Games revealed that the majority of the team, including Drummond, had joined Valve. The studio went dark and development on an unannounced title codenamed "Snail" halted.

At this point, it's not known if Morse or the rest of Hopoo is also working on Deadlock or if they are taking on other projects with the notoriously opaque developer. In 2021, court documents show Valve had 336 employees. More than half (181) of those were working on active game development. Counter-Strike 2 & Deadlock are currently the most actively-supported games from the studio, but imagine the team behind Half-Life: Alyx, the single-player Half-Life game for 2020, is working on another project.

Harvey Randall, PCG's staff writer, pointed out that it was hard to miss the similarities between the Firewatch creator Campo Santo and the company hired by Valve last year. In the Valley of the Gods by Campo Santo, their anticipated follow-up, appears to be on hold indefinitely. Meanwhile, some of the developers worked on Half-Life: Alyx. I mourn the loss of independent studios such as Hopoo and Campo Santo. The promise of more games by them is overshadowed by the same vague hope of more output from Valve, who has been infamous for their "when it's finished (it will never)"-loving attitude since 2007.

Hopoo's expertise in third-person shooters, and the itemized progression of Risk of Rain, are perfect for Deadlock. Campo Santo's love of first-person exploration and storytelling helped make Half-Life: Alyx a great game. Would you accept a job at Valve if it was offered to you?