Wardogs (video game)
A MilSim shooter with territory control and wager mechanics.
Bulkhead and Team17 are bringing Wardogs, a multiplayer first-person shooter, to Windows. Pre-order players got into a closed beta on August 22, 2026. The game launches into early access on September 10, 2026.
Quick Facts
- Maximum players per server
- 100
Facts from the source article.
Gameplay
Wardogs is a multiplayer first-person shooter MilSim simulation inspired by King of the Hill, supporting up to 100-player servers. Players are split into teams competing for a 2x2 kilometre territory on a 256-square-kilometre sandbox map. The team with the most members in the control zone earns a point; entering the hot zone counts a player as two. Each account starts with $10,000 to purchase custom loadouts including weapons, gear, utility, and vehicles. The format is based on an Arma 3 mod. A wager system lets players bet on outcomes; money found during matches can be saved, spent on loadouts, or traded for gold bars. The game has no battle pass or microtransactions. A bank balance appears at the top right of the screen, with red and green numbers showing profit or loss for that life.
Development and release
Built in Unreal Engine 5, development took years. Wardogs was announced on 5 February 2026 by Team17 as a Tactical All Out Warfare. Bulkhead pitched the game to Tencent with a budget of around £10 million and £12 million; Tencent rejected it, wanting to go bigger, so Bulkhead broke off and made a deal with Team17, starting development. A gameplay trailer was released on Bulkhead's YouTube channel on 6 June 2026 and shown at Future Games Show Summer Showcase. During development, Bulkhead laid off several workers, affecting QA testing. A full-game showcase will be livestreamed to Twitch on 3 September 2026. Developers are working on Proton and Linux support. The closed beta launched on 22 August 2026 for pre-order customers, with early access on 10 September 2026.
Reception
Wardogs shot to the top of the Steam charts just hours after its early access launch, going head-to-head with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4, which debuted in early access on the same day. The game had amassed over a million Steam wishlists. Thousands of testers offered highly positive feedback, with many noting that performance and optimization surpassed expectations. Developer Jokely posted a YouTube video called "Ten Reasons Not to Buy Wardogs," which explains the game and encourages potential buyers to research it further. Nearly 500,000 players took part in the closed beta, and at one point, over 100,000 were playing concurrently on Steam.
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