Deadlock? What's Deadlock? I'm sure this fresh trademark filing from Valve definitely isn't about a new game

It's not like it was hard to deny that Valve is working on a game called Deadlock before, but now that it's trademarked the name, it's extra impossible.

All of you Valve fans are likely already aware of its next game on the docket, which is currently poised to be a steampunk fantasy hero shooter called Deadlock. You've probably seen the leaks by now too, which shows the game in an unfinished state, though it has also given everyone a look at its strong character designs. The game is supposedly being playtested right now, but Valve is yet to actually confirm its existence. Well, yet to confirm it publicly anyway, as it kind of did so thanks to a recent trademark filing of the game's name (as spotted by Gabe Follower, thanks PC Gamer).

The trademark was filed on May 30, earlier this week, and is intended to cover various categories like "entertainment services… providing online video games; provision of on-line entertainment, namely, on-line computer games; entertainment services, namely, providing on-line computer games and on-line video games," as well as things like "competitions relating to video games" and "video game education" so it sounds like Valve possibly has some eSports plans for its upcoming shooter.

Thanks to the leaks that have been coming out over the last few weeks, we do have an idea of how the game will play. It's currently a 6v6 PvP game where matches take place on a large map with four lanes, where there are various usable abilities and items. There are tower defence mechanics too, and it seems there'll be a touch of BioShock Infinite in there too, as the game will allow players to fast travel across floating rails. Obviously with the fact that everything we know about Deadlock has come from leaks, there's no word on a release date just yet, but with Not-E3 season kicking off next week, it's always possible we'll see something then.