BULKHEAD and publisher team17 have released Season 2 for WARDOGS, the 100-player tactical first-person shooter (FPS), as its first major update since the game arrived in Steam Early Access last month.
According to a release, Season 2 adds new weapons, vehicles and buildable structures, plus dynamic weather. It also reworks core systems. The update is out now on Steam, and full patch notes are available.
Early Access lets players buy a game while it is still being built (and give feedback that shapes it). WARDOGS splits 100 players across three teams; they fight over a control zone in the industrial mountains of Eastern Europe.
Rain, tanks and a betting vendor
For the first time, players have to deal with heavy rain and thunderstorms. Visibility drops. Thunder can briefly mask footsteps, which the release says opens the door to coordinated assaults, flanking moves and surprise fights.
The season brings four new weapons, four vehicles and three buildable structures. Among them are the T-72B3 main battle tank, the Flakpanzer Gepard anti-air vehicle and new defensive fortifications. There is also an experimental Wager Vendor: players can stake in-game cash on their own performance for a shot at bigger payouts.
BULKHEAD has changed combat balance, progression, teamplay and faction dynamics after a month of watching how players approach the game. One change stands out. The studio is pushing players toward Lonestar, the underperforming blue faction, with exclusive cash and XP bonuses.
“Players have already found ways to play WARDOGS that we never expected, and they’ve certainly not been shy about telling us what needs improving. That’s exactly what we wanted from Early Access,” said Joe Brammer, CEO of BULKHEAD.
Brammer added that Season 2 is about putting the past month’s lessons into action, and that the changes under the hood matter as much as the new content. “We’re building this game with our players, and we’re only getting started,” he said.
A $100,000 clip and three million sales
The launch follows the end of BULKHEAD’s #WARDOGS100K competition. The studio revealed the winner last night: one player gets $100,000 in real-world cash for a gameplay clip, picked from thousands of entries. A further 99 finalists each receive $100,000 in WARDOGS in-game currency.
WARDOGS launched in Early Access on September 10th. The studio said it has since sold more than three million copies, with a peak of over 425,000 concurrent players on Steam. More content and updates are planned through Early Access.
BULKHEAD is a Derby-based studio founded in 2015 by a small group of friends. Its earlier games include The Turing Test and Battalion 1944. The studio was recently acquired from Tencent by a new consortium made up of SMG, everplay and Hiro Capital.
team17, founded in 1990, is part of everplay Group plc and has a portfolio of more than 140 titles. Its in-house brands include Hell Let Loose, The Escapists and Worms; its label has published Dredge and the Overcooked! series.
The following was sent as a press release to Inven Global.
