Developer Bulkhead has set September 10 as the Steam early access release date for Wardogs, a large-scale hardcore shooter it describes as taking after games such as Arma. The date was announced in an official video that also spends its running time listing reasons not to buy the game, GameSpot reports.
Before the hype train gets out of control, we want to do something most AAA marketing teams would tell their dev teams to never do — give you 10 legitimate reasons why you should not buy Wardogs.
The ten points the studio listed are:
- Lack of early-access content
- Early-access pricing
- Player count will decline
- Monetization
- Performance and visuals
- Shifting early-access priorities
- Battalion: 1944
- VOIP
- Controller support
- Decisions and consequences
Price, monetization and pace
Wardogs will cost $40 at the start of early access. Bulkhead said the price will rise over the course of development and settle at $60 when early access ends, and told players directly that if the figure sounds too high for an early-access game they should not buy it yet.
The studio said the game currently has no battle pass or paid cosmetics and that it will not be monetized during early access. It also said it will not sell weapon camos or in-game currency, and that those items will be earned through play. Bulkhead framed the early disclosure as letting players understand what they are buying into over the long term.
The "decisions and consequences" entry refers to the game’s milsim-leaning design, in which dying means a long trek back to the frontline and rebuying lost equipment. Bulkhead warned that players approaching it like Call of Duty or Battlefield will lose to more cautious opponents, and that players unwilling to learn from those deaths will not enjoy it.
The Battalion: 1944 problem
The most pointed item on the list is Bulkhead’s own record. Its previous release, the 5v5 shooter Battalion: 1944, collapsed almost immediately, reaching a concurrent player count the studio puts at between 50 and 200. Bulkhead subsequently funded itself with work-for-hire projects, offered refunds to players, and refunded the game’s Kickstarter backers.
Bulkhead said Wardogs was built on the lessons of that failure, and that players who still do not trust the studio because of Battalion: 1944 should not rush to buy the new game. Despite the framing, Wardogs has been climbing Steam’s top-seller charts.
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