When will Deadlock get a ranked mode?

Deadlock has exploded in popularity since Valve made its presence clear. Thanks to invites being sent out to more and more people, along with being able to invite as many friends as you want, the game has peaked at around 170K concurrent players. With so many people exploring the game in its current state, you may be wondering when and how you can compete against others.

While Valve’s communication hasn’t been the most clear around its latest game, here’s what we know about a Deadlock ranked mode, and when you can expect it.

When can I play a ranked mode in Deadlock?

Before we begin, we should note that Valve has not given any official information on a ranked mode or when it would go live. Anything we say here is purely speculative, so could be entirely wrong depending on their plans. With all that being said though, there’s a high likelihood we won’t be seeing a ranked mode for a while. Even outside of Valve being rather tight-lipped on the subject, there’s a lot of work to be done before that can properly flourish.

Excluding the fact that people are still learning the game, there are a lot of unfinished aspects to Deadlock that need some work. Namely, the MMR system seems to be a little wacky at the moment. You can get put into lobbies against opponents either much higher or lower in skill than you. It’s why you’ll see such a wide variance in your lanes, where sometimes you’ll get 10 kills before destroying a guardian, and other times you’ll lose your own guardian at 4 minutes. This happens in any online game, but not quite to this degree. With that so out of wack, trying to bring that to a competitive setting will be disastrous.

Other aspects show the game’s early development. Some characters and map aspects have unfinished art, characters can wildly swing one way or another in power level, and tutorials are out of date in one way or another. Bringing all that into a ranked mode wouldn’t be ideal.

While there isn’t a ranked mode just yet, that hasn’t stopped people from getting competitive with the game. There are even tournaments with prize pools going, so you can bet that once the game’s competitive scene opens up, it will become rather popular.