Highguard really did release yesterday, and as the dust settles following its first night, it's been a mixed bag so far. Despite almost no publicity between its reveal and its release, almost 100,000 people played it on Steam alone. Well, played might not be the right word, as it looks like login issues and server strain led quite a few of you to go check out Deadlock's new character.
Deadlock and Highguard have more in common than you might think. Valve's hero shooter launched to even less fanfare than Highguard. Fair or not, however, Valve is usually the exception to the rule when it comes to that sort of thing. Despite not really talking about it at all, and Deadlock being an invite-only game, it peaked at more than 170,000 concurrent players last summer.
Deadlock has been happily chugging along ever since, its player count consistently hovering at just below 30,000 people. However, two hours after Highguard launched on Monday night, Valve's third-person shooter experienced a surge in players. 98,887 people were playing Deadlock on Monday evening. Not only was that more than Highguard at its peak, but it's the highest concurrent player count Deadlock has achieved for well...
