WARDOGS Launches in Early Access, Peaks at 340,000 Concurrent Players on Steam

WARDOGS entered Steam Early Access for PC on September 10. The game is developed by British studio Bulkhead and published by Team17. WARDOGS is a tactical multiplayer first-person shooter in which up to 100 players are split across three teams, fighting for control of a central zone on a destructible map set in industrial mountain terrain inspired by Eastern Europe. The game's defining feature is its cash-based economy: before each round, players buy loadouts, weapons, and vehicles with accumulated cash, while teamplay actions — reviving squadmates, holding the zone, transporting allies — generate additional income. Matches also feature ground vehicles and helicopters.

Early Access launched on September 10 at 16:00 UTC, priced at $39.99 (with a $49.99 Supporter Edition also available). Within just a few hours of launch, the peak concurrent player count on Steam reached around 340,000, putting the game in fourth place on Steam's overall charts. According to the developers, sales surpassed one million copies within the first day.

In my view, this level of popularity came as a surprise even to the Bulkhead team itself. Before launch, the studio ran two closed beta tests: the first (August 21–23) drew a peak of roughly 105,000 concurrent players, while the second, which began in early September, performed even better, peaking at 245,000. And even though that second test already showed a significant rise in interest, the actual Early Access launch numbers exceeded that figure as well, pointing to a scale of attention toward WARDOGS that clearly went far beyond initial projections.

The game is currently available on PC only; PlayStation 5 and Xbox versions are planned for 2028.