Wardogs Blows Past Expectations in Record-Breaking Closed Beta

Bulkhead's Wardogs closed beta has ended with an astonishing 245,118 simultaneous players on Steam. This is nearly 50 times more than the studio's original capacity planning of 3,000 to 5,000 daily players. The game's unique economic loop and persistent cash system are credited for its massive success.

The first closed beta drew almost 500,000 unique players and peaked at 105,774 concurrent Steam players. The second beta saw even faster growth, reaching a peak of 245,118 concurrent players on September 5. This surpassed the all-time peak concurrent player counts for Squad, Hell Let Loose, and Arma on PC.

Bulkhead's game director Howard Philpott described the reaction to the beta as 'insane,' with nearly half a million unique players participating during the same week as Call of Duty's beta. The studio has confirmed that there will be no real-money cash purchases during Early Access, and no battle pass or cosmetic progression system beyond the Supporter Edition.

Wardogs is a 100-player military simulation FPS built in Unreal Engine 5, set in a fictional Eastern European region modeled on modern-day Georgia. The game's unique mechanics include a persistent economy where players earn cash by completing beneficial actions for their team. This design intention is to create 'greed as teamwork.'

Bulkhead has acknowledged the potential drawbacks of its design, including defensive incentives that can pull players away from the control zone and toward static positions. However, beta players described experiences with coordinated squads as unlike anything available in mainstream FPS.