WARDOGS: a launch worthy of the best, backed by the numbers!

An FPS that is neither Call of Duty nor Battlefield topping a million copies in 24 hours doesn't happen every day. WARDOGS just did it, and the multiplayer shooter market is taking notice.

British studio Bulkhead launched its war FPS in early access on PC, and the reception has exceeded even the studio's own expectations. According to figures released by Bulkhead, more than a million copies found buyers on launch day alone. SteamDB confirms the trend on the audience side: over 300,000 concurrent players, to the point that queues formed to access the servers.

Joe Brammer, CEO of Bulkhead, was keen to put the event into perspective rather than get carried away by it. The studio had even communicated beforehand about what the game was not, in order to avoid a poorly calibrated hype wave. The result: a player base that seems to have chosen WARDOGS knowingly, rather than being swept up by a simple hype effect.

What makes this launch interesting is the game's own positioning. WARDOGS slots itself between the rigor of an Arma and the accessibility of a Battlefield, with an approach that bets on organic chaos rather than scripted moments. A risky bet in a saturated genre, but one that seems to be paying off for now.

Bulkhead is already warning of a slowdown to come, with the pace of content set to remain measured. It remains to be seen whether the community will stick around for the long haul.