Wardogs (video game)

Wardogs is a multiplayer first-person shooter MilSim simulation video game inspired by King of the Hill that features a player versus player environment and can support up to 100-player servers.^[1][2][3] Set in fictitious abandoned mountains in Eastern Europe, 100 players are split into three teams of 33 players that fight for a 2x2 kilometre territory across a 256-square-kilometre sandbox map, and the team with the most teammates in the control zone scores a point every ten seconds, although you can make each member of your team's presence in the zone count as two people by entering the "HotZone".^[4][5][6][7] Across the map are towers that a team can take control of by securing the tower and learning one digit in a code.^[8][9] If you get all the digits, you can force the "HotZone" to draw closer to you.^[8]

Wardogs is based primarily on a "cash is king" style of play, with every account starting with $10,000, in which you can purchase a custom loadout that ranges from weapons to gear, utility, and vehicles.^[10][11] You can also pay for a "taxi ride" to areas around the map.^[12] Wardogs features building machines where you must use a hammer to craft structures to protect yourself.^[12] If you set up a forward operating base, you can use the structures to begin building a fortress, although you can run out of supplies and will need someone to go back to your headquarters to purchase more.^[8]

Joe Brammer, the CEO of Bulkhead, stated that "Cash is the best anticheat", implying that the currency in-game could be used in ways to stop hackers and cheaters.^[13] According to reports, the format of Wardogs is based on a mod for the video game Arma 3.^[14][15] Wardogs also features a wager-like system where players can bet on the possible outcomes; throughout matches you can find money lying around, which you can either save, buy loadouts or trade the money for gold bars.^[16] Notably, the game does not feature a battle pass or microtransactions.^[17] According to testers, you will have a bank balance at the top right corner of the screen with red and green numbers below showing your current profit or loss for that life.^[18]

Built in Unreal Engine 5, the start date of development for Wardogs is unknown, although it was said it took years and first started in Derby, England.^[19] It was announced on 5 February 2026 by Team17 as a “Tactical All Out Warfare”.^[20][21] Bulkhead pitched the game to Tencent with a budget of around £10 million and £12 million, although they rejected it and said they wanted to "go bigger", in which Bulkhead made the decision to break off from Tencent and make a deal with Team17, which started the development of Wardogs.^[22][23]

On 6 June 2026, a gameplay trailer was released to Bulkhead's YouTube channel; it was also revealed at Future Games Show Summer Showcase.^[24][25] During the development of Wardogs, Bulkhead laid off several workers, which directly affected QA testing.^[26] A showcase of the full game will be livestreamed to Twitch on 3 September 2026.^[27] According to the developers, they are working on Proton and Linux support for the game.^[28] The game launched into a closed beta on 22 August 2026 for people who pre-ordered it, and it released into early access on 10 September 2026.^[29][30] In September 2026, it was revealed that BisectHosting would be a hosting partner for Wardogs to balance the performance standards of the servers before launch.^[31] As a part of the game's launch, Bulkhead announced that in 2028, Wardogs will be coming to PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X and Series S.^[32][33][34] Although the game was released on September 10, due to time zones for some countries, it was released on September 11, with the times for September 10 being 9 am PST, 12 pm EST, 5 pm BST, and 6 pm CEST, and September 11 being 2 am AEST and 4 am NZST.^[35]

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Early access

According to Steam statistics, Wardogs reached the top of its charts at number one within hours of the early access launch, directly competing with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which entered early access on the same day.^[38][39][40] It also had over one million Steam wishlists.^[41]

According to reports, Wardogs had thousands of testers that gave very positive feedback, with some also saying performance and optimisation have exceeded expectations.^[42] Jokingly, the developers posted a video to YouTube titled "Ten Reasons Not to Buy Wardogs" in which they explain what Wardogs is and to "look into it more" when purchasing it.^[43] Nearly 500,000 players played the closed beta, and it had over 100,000 concurrent players on Steam at one point.^[44] Before Wardogs was released, Joe Brammer wrote that he was already concerned for "hype dying down".^[45] Due to a high number of users trying to play, Wardogs' servers temporarily struggled to queue matches, making Bulkhead take the game offline while they fixed it, although the servers later came back up.^[46] Joe Brammer said that it was most likely due to Valve Corporation rate-limiting the game.^[46] In September 2026, Wardogs surpassed 300,000 concurrent players on Steam and sold one million copies in its first day in early access.^[47][48]

• List of video games by Team17