Wardogs Hits 300K Players, Then the Queues Hit Back

Ever tried to join a game and found 300,000 people ahead of you in line? That's exactly what happened to plenty of would-be Wardogs players this week.

The big new military FPS from developer Bulkhead launched today in early access on Steam, and it came out swinging. Wardogs hit 300,000 peak concurrent users right out of the gate, and the $40 shooter is currently Steam's No. 1 best-seller. Not bad for a game the developer literally told you not to buy.

Of course, that kind of flood comes with consequences. Bulkhead instituted a server queue system to cope with the demand, and it didn't take long for the whole thing to become a meme on social media. Players posted screenshots of their spots in line, with some reporting more than 300,000 people ahead of them. Yikes.

Bulkhead said the brutal queues were partly down to the studio being "rate limited," and that it was working with Valve to get that limit raised in line with "larger titles." Things got temporarily worse for some when Bulkhead kicked everyone out of the queue as a fix meant to help more players get in faster. Studio boss Joe Brammer said the queue itself isn't "specifically broken" -- Wardogs just didn't get the same rate-limit treatment AAA games receive. "Hang in there," he told players.

That wasn't the only launch-day headache. Some players reported getting banned for seemingly no reason, and Bulkhead said it's aware of these "incorrect bans" and is working to address them immediately.

A hotfix has now rolled out targeting the server issues. If you're logged in and stuck in a queue, you'll need to close the game to download the update -- and yes, you'll land back in a queue once you log in again. Players will be let in through "controlled batches," though the size wasn't specified, so queues may stick around for a while. More players will be let in as things get resolved, but there's no timetable yet. The patch also tackles problems with joining servers and an issue that was kicking players from matches.

"We will be actively monitoring the ongoing situation post hotfix and will be working through the night to see this resolved," the developer wrote on Steam. "We apologize for the inconvenience this has caused."

For the uninitiated, Wardogs is a large-scale military FPS featuring 100 players split into three teams, battling across a map set in a fictional version of Eastern Europe. Alongside the early access launch, Bulkhead revealed the console edition for PS5 and Xbox Series X|S is coming in 2028. If you want in now, Steam keys are discounted at Fanatical. (Disclosure: GameSpot and Fanatical are both owned by Fandom.)

So, are you brave enough to wait out that queue, or are you holding off until the servers calm down? What do you think of Wardogs' wild start?