WARDOGS hits 2 million sales in five days — and beat Call of Duty to the punch
A new tactical shooter from British studio Bulkhead has sold 2 million copies in its first five days on Steam Early Access — a milestone that puts it ahead of several established franchises and, notably, landed on the same day as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4's early access launch. Peak concurrent players hit 428,000, and the game sits at 85% positive reviews from over 36,000 players — an unusually strong score for an early access title.
Not a battle royale
WARDOGS is a 100-player, three-team King-of-the-Hill shooter with destructible maps and a FOB (Forward Operating Base) mechanic that lets squads build and destroy bases in real time. That positions it somewhere between Battlefield's arcade chaos and ARMA's tactical depth — without locking into the extraction-shooter or battle royale formats that dominate the current market. There are no pay-to-win microtransactions; cosmetics are the only optional spend.
The game launched at £36.99 in the UK and $39.99 in the US. Bulkhead has publicly committed to raising the price as major content drops arrive, up to a planned £59.99/$59.99 at full release — meaning early buyers are locking in the lowest price, which inverts the typical Steam "wait for a sale" logic.
2 MILLION COPIES SOLD.
— WARDOGS (@WARDOGS) September 15, 2026
Thank you all. Beyond humbled.
We made a game we wanted to play with friends.
Watching you play it with yours has been the best. pic.twitter.com/HDBlLXzUzs
Studio head Joe Brammer was direct about the road ahead: "We're still in Early Access and we're not pretending the work is done. We're reading your reactions, fixing things, improving things, and building what comes next. Thank you to everyone who has played, supported us, and shared their thoughts."
By the numbers
Bulkhead released in-game stats covering September 10–14. Players collectively earned 1.28 trillion in-game bucks, racked up 122.2 million kills, and revived teammates 60.7 million times. The most popular class was Support at 21.4%, followed by Assault (20.5%) and Medic (20%). Pilot was the least-played at 8.7%.
In-game class breakdown from the first five days of WARDOGS Early Access.
