Bulkhead has launched Wardogs in early access on Steam, drawing instant comparisons to the Battlefield franchise. The military sandbox shooter surpassed 340,000 concurrent players and sold over 1,000,000 copies in its first 24 hours. But technical issues and server strain currently hold its player review score at a mixed 65%.
The sudden influx of players caught the studio completely by surprise. Bulkhead had spent months trying to temper community expectations before releasing the game. Studio head Joe Brammer addressed the sudden surge in a direct statement to players.
For the past few months we were transparent about what Wardogs is and what it is not. At one point we literally gave everyone 10 reasons not to buy it. We did not want people to buy into blind hype. But over 1,000,000 people decided to join the game in early access, and that means a lot to all of us.
Wardogs drops players into a large scale combat sandbox that mixes infantry skirmishes and vehicle warfare with real time base building mechanics. Soldiers can choose from multiple specialized roles to support their squad or construct forward defense outposts across the map.
Early access launches rarely go smoothly, and Wardogs is feeling the strain. Players report frequent server disconnects, frame rate drops, and a general lack of content in the current build. These performance bottlenecks explain why only 65% of Steam user reviews are positive right now. The developers now face the challenge of fixing stability bugs before player interest begins to drop.
