How to Get an Invite

To play Deadlock you need an invite from a Steam friend who already has it: they click "Invite your friends" in the game's start menu and pick you, and Valve says invites typically arrive within one to two days as a Steam notification. Deadlock cannot be bought, has no waitlist and does not appear in Steam search.

0:05 To play Deadlock you need an invite from a Steam friend who already has it: your friend clicks "Invite your friends" in the bottom right of Deadlock's start menu and picks you from their friends list, and the invite arrives as a Steam notification (PC Gamer, Aug 16, 2024). Valve's own text says "Invites are typically sent out within 1-2 days, but sometimes may take longer." Once it arrives, Deadlock shows up in your Steam library and you install it like any other game, for free. There is no other way in: as of Oct 26, 2026 the Steam page says "Access is currently limited to friend invite via our playtesters", the game cannot be bought, and it does not appear in Steam search (Destructoid, Oct 17, 2026). With hundreds of thousands of players online at a time, most people already have a friend who can invite them.

Deadlock's tall Steam library cover: the logo and eye emblem over a teal painting of giant figures above a night skyline. Valve

Quick facts

How to get in	An invite from a Steam friend who plays
Where the button is	"Invite your friends", bottom right of the start menu
Wait	"Typically ... within 1-2 days" (Valve's text)
Cost	Free in the playtest; Valve has not announced a price
Buy it	Not possible
Waitlist or sign-up	None
Invite limit	None published by Valve
Platform	Windows, 64-bit (Steam)
Languages	17 interface languages, English audio

Sources: PC Gamer, Aug 16, 2024; Steam store page and Steam appdetails, read Oct 26, 2026; PCGamesN, Aug 27, 2024.

Step by step

1. Be Steam friends with someone who plays. The invite goes to a Steam account on your friend's list, so add them on Steam first (or ask them to add you). Before Valve revealed the game on Aug 23, 2024, inviting meant sending Valve a friend's Steam profile and email; since then it has been a button in the game (PC Gamer).

2. Your friend sends the invite. In Deadlock's start menu, your friend clicks "Invite your friends" in the bottom right corner and selects you from their friends list (PC Gamer). Dexerto describes the same route: be on the friends list of a player who uses "Invite your friends", and the game then appears in your library (Dexerto, Mar 20, 2026).

8:08 3. Wait for the Steam notification. Valve's text promises "within 1-2 days, but sometimes may take longer". In practice it is often faster: PCGamesN found invites "usually" arrive within a few hours, up to about two days (PCGamesN, Aug 27, 2024).

4. Install and play. Deadlock appears in your Steam library; install it and launch it. You need 64-bit Windows: the Steam page lists every other requirement, from processor to graphics card, as "TBD" (Steam appdetails, read Oct 26, 2026). The Settings and Performance page covers settings and launch options, and the Beginner's Guide covers your first matches.

5. Invite your own friends. Once you have access, the same "Invite your friends" button works for you. PCGamesN called getting in "remarkably easy" by Aug 2026: ask a friend who plays to click your name in game (PCGamesN, Aug 9, 2026).

What does not work

14:56 You cannot buy Deadlock. The store page has no price and no buy button, only "Add to your wishlist", and says "This game is not yet available on Steam" (Steam, read Oct 26, 2026). Valve has not announced a price or business model, so any site selling Deadlock "keys" or accounts is not selling anything Valve offers.

You cannot request access from Valve. There is no queue, sign-up form or waitlist on the Steam page (PC Gamer, Sep 30, 2026), and adding the game to your wishlist does not put you in line. Valve did send invites itself in waves in 2024, which seemed to favor experienced Dota 2 players (PC Gamer), but it has not announced any such waves since.

Searching Steam does not find it. Deadlock is hidden from Steam search while access is invite-only (Destructoid, Oct 17, 2026); the direct store link, store.steampowered.com/app/1422450, still works for reading the page and wishlisting.

How many invites can you send?

Valve has never published a limit. Destructoid found the number of invites "seemingly infinite" when it tested in Aug 2024 (Destructoid, Aug 28, 2024). PCGamesN warned that Valve "has the right to cap invites, revoke invites, or limit players", though no plan to do so had been announced (PCGamesN). Neither Valve nor any outlet has reported a cap since.

If none of your friends play

0:24 Without a friend who plays, players turn to communities that hand out invites. The stats site Tracklock, for example, runs a Discord channel where members send invites to newcomers, and says they usually take one to two hours (Tracklock, read Oct 26, 2026). Such groups are run by players, not by Valve. An invite only needs your Steam friend code or profile, so never give anyone your Steam password or pay for an invite.

Regions, languages and Steam Deck

Valve has published no region restriction on invites. The matchmaker places you on the server in your region with the best ping for the match, as the Valve developer Yoshi explained in Oct 2024 (PC Gamer, Oct 11, 2024), and Valve added South Africa servers on Sep 26, 2024. Ranked leaderboards are kept for five regions: North America, South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania (Valve forums, Nov 21, 2024).

The game is translated into 17 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish (Spain and Latin America), Portuguese (Brazil), Russian, Ukrainian, Polish, Czech, Turkish, Simplified Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Thai and Indonesian, with full audio in English only (Steam appdetails, read Oct 26, 2026).

Steam Deck and Linux are not official platforms: Steam lists Windows only. Linux players run Deadlock through Proton (GamingOnLinux, Aug 30, 2024). In Aug 2024 standard matchmaking was "currently unsupported on Steam Deck", and Dexerto's workaround was the launch option SteamDeck=0 %command% (Dexerto, Aug 26, 2024); Valve has since added official Steam Input configurations for the Deck (Valve, Nov 8, 2024), but has not said whether the matchmaking block still applies.

Keeping your access

An invite gives you the same playtest everyone else has, and Valve's rules on behavior apply. Players with active sanctions, such as low priority or a comms ban, cannot play Ranked (Valve, Jul 30, 2026), and Valve's anti-cheat has banned cheaters since Sep 26, 2024, when it also let opponents turn a detected cheater into a frog for the rest of the match. Ranked and Matchmaking covers the rules.

Frequently asked questions

How do I get Deadlock? You get Deadlock through an invite from a Steam friend who already plays it: they click "Invite your friends" in the start menu and choose you (PC Gamer).

Can I buy Deadlock? No. Deadlock is not for sale on Steam, and Valve has not announced a price; the playtest is free with an invite (Steam, read Oct 26, 2026).

How long does a Deadlock invite take? Valve's text says Deadlock invites "are typically sent out within 1-2 days, but sometimes may take longer", and PCGamesN found they usually arrive within a few hours (PCGamesN).

How do I invite friends to Deadlock? Open Deadlock, click "Invite your friends" in the bottom right of the start menu, and pick the friend from your Steam friends list; they get a Steam notification (PC Gamer).

Is there a limit on Deadlock invites? Valve has published no limit on Deadlock invites; Destructoid found them "seemingly infinite" in Aug 2024 (Destructoid).

Why can't I find Deadlock on Steam? Deadlock is hidden from Steam search while it is an invite-only playtest, but its store page still opens at store.steampowered.com/app/1422450 (Destructoid, Oct 17, 2026).

Is there a Deadlock waitlist? No. Deadlock has no waitlist or sign-up, and wishlisting it does not grant access; only a friend's invite does (PC Gamer, Sep 30, 2026).