Wardogs sold over a million copies on day one but immediately broke its own servers as a result

Wardogs is off to a start most independent studios can only dream of, and its servers clearly weren’t prepared for it. The tactical shooter from Derby-based developer Bulkhead sold more than a million copies on its first day of Steam Early Access, while simultaneously rocketing past 350,000 concurrent players. The game launched on September 10, priced at £36.99 in the UK and $39.99 in the US.

The milestone follows a steady buildup of momentum. Wardogs reached 100,000 Steam wishlists just three days after its reveal, passed 500,000 in May, and hit one million wishlists in August of this year. Nearly half a million players joined the August closed beta, while the final pre-launch test peaked at 245,118 concurrent players. Bulkhead’s marketing strategy was to avoid leaning into the hype, too. The studio's pre-order trailer was literally titled "10 Reasons NOT to Buy".

An unaffected Early Access launch

However, that approach seems to have made the launch numbers hit harder for the team. "To cross a million copies sold as we launch into Early Access is mental," said Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer (via IGN). "We didn't want people buying into blind hype. So seeing more than one million people choose to jump in and play the game at early access launch means a huge amount to all of us". He was also quick to temper expectations: "But this is still early access. We've got things to fix, things we want to improve, and a lot more we want to build".

The most immediate fix needed was the servers. More than 330,000 players were online simultaneously at one point, significantly more than during the beta, and the infrastructure simply could not handle the demand. The result was long queues, failed connections, and players getting kicked from matches mid-game. Steam reviews took the brunt of the impact. The game started with a "Mixed" rating, with only around 65% of reviews positive, but now sits at “Very Positive,” with 84% positive. Many negative reviews aren't about the game itself; instead, they're about being unable to play it.

Bulkhead is planning a slower drip of content updates rather than trying to sustain launch-day numbers indefinitely. Console players will have to wait a while, with PS5 and Xbox versions confirmed for 2028. For now, the studio's immediate priority is stabilizing the servers so the million-plus players who showed up can actually enjoy what they bought.

No support for Steam Deck or Steam Machine just yet

It is also important to note that gamers on the Steam Deck and other SteamOS options, such as the Steam Machine, are not currently part of its audience because the game's anti-cheat does not support Linux-based OSes at the time of writing, though that could change in the future.