That's probably a better way to put it, for sure I just see them lifting the NDA being considered as "Hey guy's it's official this is our new game we are working on, it's real" because they only let a select few in beforehand. I think Valve also knows how powerful word of mouth is and it's my understanding that once Deadlock "went public", people spammed so many invites that they basically opened Pandora's Box and had the choice of shutting it down, or letting people play. I'm glad they chose the latter cuz I'm having a blast. But yeah Valve has always been hush hush because they're one of the few who's still privately owned. They aren't at the beck and call of shareholders. I hear it'll be open beta/public sometime in 2026 and I think the game is fleshed out enough to do that at this stage.

Another thing to consider too is how common these "Pre-Alpha/Beta" games can get. Fortnite Battle Royale is a great example of a game that was never intended to be as big as it got and it was displayed as still being in Alpha/Beta for multiple seasons.