The Verge Under Fire For Publishing Info About ‘Deadlock,’ Valve’s Secret Shooter

Valve gives you access to a game and tells you not to spew your mouth off. A gentleman's agreement if you will.

You spew your mouth off and valve takes access away.

shocked pikachu face

This is a non-issue of you ask me. A person, who happens to be a writer, got access to the game through a steam friend and was asked not to talk about it but thought they could just not agree to a warning and write about it anyway? I got access too and i didnt write about the game. I get to go back and play it today, they cant.

So what. They already have their article and it will be out anyways within like two years latest probably. The value of talking about deadlock is much higher and valve profits from this advertising as well.
- The so what is that this writer for the verge will likely never be trusted with NDA type pre-release access for any other games going forward, and this may even impact all of the Verge.
  
  This isn't just a one and done kind of issue, this will be seen by the entire industry as a "can't trust that guy with pre-release access"
- Except this is a game industry reputation ruined. It isn't just valve, why would any dev ever give the verge access again knowing that they will not only disrespect your requests but bitch and moan if you hold them to it.
  
  It's a full rep killer. They will never have early access again for any company.
I'm sort of confused about why Valve even care that much. Surely they know that "leaks" are the best way to build hype for a game.

Although Valve are making a game again, so I'm not sure how much hype they really need.
- Closed playtests are usually with very in-development builds. People post the barely functioning game to social media and the game gets bad press. Release day rolls around and no one buys it because "that was that one game that looked bad a while ago"
  
  This seems like a stupid train of thought but a lot of people think like this
- Others have pointed out the concerns around negative reviews of things still subject to change, but the other aspect is just the relations with media.
  
  I'm sure tons of journalists have been playing. And probably even working on content covering the game, but not publishing it yet. Once valve is ready for coverage they'll have polished content ready. And valve can control the timing so that coverage happens right when they want the hype like maybe a few days before an open beta.
  
  By covering it early you encourage other journalists to do the same, rushing out low quality content to get the views before others do. And for valve to not let any journalists see the game early to avoid this.
- The biggest thing would be that a game under playtest is likely to undergo drastic balance changes and potentially even changes to core gameplay, a review of a game in that early of a state would likely not reflect the finished product, and is unlikely to be updated or taken down when the game is released, this possibly poisoning public opinion with content that doesn't reflect the actual game.
Oh you have access? You got any spare referals? Asking for a friend with the friend code 998621885

I can’t believe their secret game they gave to 10 thousand people got leaked

I think the thing everyone is forgetting is that valve isn't stupid, there's no way they didn't realize you could work around accepting the (legally unenforcable) NDA, and it's open invite.

Valve 100% knows that keeping it "secret" is good for hype and was expecting this to happen at any time, and the nominal ban was expected, but nobody is gonna get sued either.

More people are talking about Valve's "secret" new game because of this than would be if they openly announced it.

Yeah exactly. It's quite likely they didn't really blacklist The Verge anyways, just won't send them invites any more for this particular game. Best kind of marketing is hype marketing, and this is how you fuel the hype.
As someone whose played it I can say that it has some cool concepts but it's sorta mid atm. It's what to be expected for an alpha game though, I just hope they push the aethetic harder and not just use it as set dressing cause so far the aethetic is the most unique part about it. The rest is just overwatch meets leagueDota but slightly jankier (Again, to be expected since it's alpha.)
- Those are my thoughts as well, though I've only had the chance to play a couple of matches so far. When I heard about the concept it sounded cooler than it feels so far, but maybe I just need to get used to it. So far the gameplay loop hasn't really clicked for me, and balancing the hero shooter aspects with MOBA stuff like farming and buying items hasn't felt smooth, fluid or natural.
  
  I do imagine - much like MOBAs - it's more fun playing as a squad though. I've only done random matchmaking.
Yep, tech and game companies use invite-only systems to generate hype constantly. Bluesky is another recent example.

What was so secret about it?

So apparently they had a bit asking players to not share info about the game, but you could technically back out of it without agreeing so legally they can post whatever they want. It feels like a case of "this is legal to do but maybe kinda shitty and valve might be upset". Basically the agreement was informal and not enforceable and the verge just said fuck it. They did get banned afterwards, but I think that and not working with them in the future is all valve can do.

Edit: didn't even require agreement, so honestly it's kinda fair game. I was a bit hostile calling it shitty, I felt like it was a loophole or something but it's more Valve just saying "hey pls don't" and the verge replying "no thanks", and eating the game ban since that's all valve can really do.
- There isn't even an informal agreement. It simply says not to share anything. Not even "by playing this, you agree not to share anything". It's just "please don't share anything" without any action required by your side.
- If 10,000 people are doing something, it is NOT secret, and journalists must report on it for the general benefit of society.
  
  Valve has their head in the clouds if they thought they could keep an informal secret among the population of a small town.
Valve got burned many ages ago with Half-Life 2 and they only go to press about a game when it's in the final phases of development, to release.
- Bullshit. The actual reason will be that this is far better marketing once you're at a level of Valve. Shit gets leaked anyways, might as well make it intentionally so to fuel the hype cycle.

Clickbait title. I can't find any justification for calling a player being banned as The Verge "under fire".

It's just bad faith reporting. It reminds me of Kotaku sneaking into conventions before they opened to report what games were there.

It lowers my opinion of The Verge, I used to think they were at least reputable with standards, but that's a real tabloid move.

they were at least reputable with standards

I think you must be talking about a different website?
- That's what I thought as well. When has The Verge ever been good?
They literally included a screenshot of valve asking to not share information about the game with a little quip about how they pressed escape instead of ok. Blantant disrespect to valves wishes even if it's not a legally binding agreement.

They chose getting clicks over doing right by valve. Shame on them.
I used to think they were reputable until they came out with that PC building video
- LTT posted a do-over video with Stefan. He seems like a decent guy. Have followed him since then. https://youtu.be/QKzmYsySGFQ?si=AlEpsycL5ifF3RxD
20,000 people are playing it at a time. Not exactly a secret. The way they're testing this game is radical and newsworthy in itself. I'm glad Verge reported on it, and they don't seem mad they they were banned
The verge has been paid advertising disguised as tech news for decades now. Arstechnica too.
- Isn't it like just over ten years old?

Decent thing to do would have been ask valve for time when they want the article published

They did ask Valve:

Though Valve didn’t respond to my requests for comment
- Then don't post it.
- They have the same attitude I have to tech support tickets.
  
  If I call and the user doesn't answer then I guess the issue is fixed isn't it? Ticket closed.

Why wouldn’t they just put journalists they gave access to under embargo?

It's not clear if he actually got access from Valve or from a friend or someone else. The article simply states

Earlier today, I received a no-strings-attached invite to play Deadlock on Steam.
- Ok - but they all originate from Valve, right? They couldn’t just put it behind a paywall or “NDA”wall?

At the end of the day, the editors will have to answer to not receiving access to Valve for statements or tips moving forward.

Honestly I don't think valve is as mad as you would think
Valve barely talks to press anyways, in a very similar fashion as Apple. At worst, maybe The Verge won't get a Steam Deck 2 review unit ahead of time or something.

Too bad the game itself doesn't sound very interesting.

Oh but it is very very fun. Addicting even. Full time job and business owner and in the last 5 weeks I've logged 125hrs.
- 125 hours already?! No wonder I sometimes play against people that feel like they've been playing it their entire life.
It's a MOBA at heart. I don't like MOBAs, so I couldn't stick with it.

And at the end of the day....it's just an ok game.

Have you tried it? Genuine question, since we're free to talk about it I'd love to hear why you think it's mediocre, so far all the talk is always hype so I'm eager for some less positive takes.
- Preface that it is an early alpha build and everything can change.
  
  Yes, I have played it. It is literally just a moba. It feels like they took Dota and slapped 5% of an fps to it. The matches can be way too long, and it suffers from the snowballing effect that if you don't get a good start, it is really hard to be effective. If you are 10 mins in a match and getting outplayed, you probably arent going to enjoy the remaining 20-30 mins. If you took Dota and modded it with 1st person controls, you'd be almost there with this game.
  
  There is some good. The vertical elements do help, and the jungle aspects, along with destroyables, do help somewhat to make up lost ground in your build. The art design is pretty good for being alpha, and I do enjoy the map. There are lots of crisscross paths and hidden areas. There are also some map mechanics that are fresh, like 1 way viewable smoke screens.
  
  If you don't like mobas, I'd almost guarantee you won't like this. It's not a new, genre defining experience, and it doesn't pull enough fps features to make it different. 4/10 as it sits.
- I have 125hrs and it's amazing fun, has a high skill ceiling, isn't an overwatch clone or anything remotely like that game.
  
  It's a moba first third person shooter second. Basically dota with guns, or (a better) smite with a y axis (flying around, climbing, high spots, low spots) and guns.
- Is Dota 2 with some shooter mechanics. If you like Dota 2 you probably like it, if you prefer a moba like LoL maybe you'll not like it.
  
  I played a couple of matches and to me the match go for too long.

"Leaked".

All leaks are deliberately orchestrated to fan the hype train.

Lol no definitely not all

Eh. I find it difficult to have any sympathy for Valve. Sounds like it was only a matter of time before someone did this. If anything this is just free marketing.