Shortly following our reports on the data it provided, Deadlock statistics platform Tracklock has shut down (for now).
Covering data such as total games, appearance rate, and win rate for the heroes of Valve’s MOBA/shooter hybrid, Tracklock seemed to me to be an invaluable resource for indicating what is and isn’t working in the game’s closer beta.
It seems that Valve isn’t quite yet ready for that level of public scrutiny with the projected however, as they’ve returned their systems to prohibit the data collection.
A Tracklock admin said: “Valve’s turned on even more aggressive rate limits and now there are no new games being tracked.
“We will be making some changes to the site soon to accommodate for this.
“I’d just like to say, do not go and complain to Valve. This game is in beta ans they clearly aren’t ready for stats sites yet.
“We will take this time to improve features (we are only a week old!) and be ready for when Valve has a solution for us!”
This isn’t me going after them, but I’ll be blunt. Whilst I understand Valve’s decision, I think it’s incredibly shortsighted. Deadlock is popping off right now, not just in terms of player counts, but in terms of becoming a real contender in the Esports space.
Multiple organisations have already announced professional Deadlock teams, community tournaments are aplenty, and professionals from other Esports are moving across to the game.
Not only are sites like Tracklock useful informational tools for devs, but they also encourage community interaction with the developers and with each other.
Finally, and most importantly, they are invaluable for a game’s competitive scene, enabling tier lists, meta analysis and theory crafting in a widespread capacity, as well as acting (in some cases) as logs for competitive results. Kneecapping this aspect of Deadlock when it’s going so well seems odd, to say the least (thanks, GamesRadar).