Three days before launch, the community-server question has its answer. Bulkhead posted on X this morning:
"Attention Server Admins. WARDOGS Dedicated Servers are now available to pre-order through our two approved hosting partners, QONZER and BisectHosting. Ready for Early Access on September 10th."
A follow-up post carried the two order pages. Nothing went to the Steam news hub, which is where the studio has posted every beta announcement; this one is X-only, the way the Closed Alpha news was.
What "approved" means
It means the server code. On 29 August Bulkhead wrote a thread that most coverage skipped, and it is the part that matters if you are about to pay for a server:
"These providers do not have access to the game or server code as we have been so protective of it. At launch only x2 Server Hosting Companies will have the relevant systems to be able to host WARDOGS servers to individuals."
That post was aimed at the hosts already selling WARDOGS pre-orders in August, four of which are on the server list. It went further: "We do not release our server code for anyone to be able to host a server." So there is no self-hosting, no renting a bare machine and installing it yourself, and no third host until Bulkhead names one. "However, of course anyone will be able to host a server from the approved hosting companies." Two more lines from that thread explain how the two were picked: "selected after rigourous testing with our players since April 2026", and "there are others in the pipeline".
What they charge
Both hosts sell the same three sizes. Bulkhead says it does not set the prices ("we currently allow hosts to set their own price but we demand that they maintain a certain quality") and took no profit share: it "instead asked them to run better hardware".
| Host | 60 players | 80 players | 100 players | Where |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| QONZER | £49.95 a month, 8 CPU threads | £59.95, 10 threads | £69.95, 12 threads | Frankfurt, London, Paris, Warsaw; New Jersey, New York, Los Angeles, Salt Lake City; Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo |
| BisectHosting | 24 GB RAM | 28 GB | 32 GB | "21 worldwide locations", not named |
The QONZER figures are read straight off its order page, which also warns of "extremely high demand" and offers 15% off for a year paid up front. BisectHosting's page printed the sizes but not the monthly prices when read today; players posting screenshots of it show roughly $72, $84 and $96 a month at $2.99 per gigabyte, and one European player quotes €86 for the 100-slot box. Those are Reported until the page prints them.
Neither host lets you into the server before launch. BisectHosting's page says it outright: "You will not be able to join the WARDOGS server until the official launch on September 10th." A pre-order holds the box, nothing more.
What you can change on it
Less than admins want, at first, and Bulkhead said so before anyone asked:
"Day one we aren't going to let you turn everything off... But, we will let you start to choose what maps and modes you play. Going forward, we'll of course allow more and more control of what is in your server, subject to the economy."
The tool for that is an RCON panel that works on either host — "where they can directly control their server, live, regardless of their hosting platform". The screenshot in the thread shows a server overview: scores by faction, player count, map, game mode, the control zone in play, a score tick of 24 seconds with a range of 18 to 30, time of day and weather, rotation, and a "Modifications" field reading None. That is a screenshot, not a shipped build, so it is Reported.
"Subject to the economy" is the phrase to keep. WARDOGS carries cash between matches on one account, so a community server that let an admin hand out free vehicles would print money into the same economy everyone else plays in. It is why the day-one controls are maps and modes and not the shop, and it is why the open question on the server list is whether community-server play counts the same as official play. Bulkhead has not said.
What the replies asked
Why 60, 80 and 100 rather than 100 by default. Whether mods are possible (the panel says None). Where the South African servers are (nowhere, on either host's list). Whether community servers "ruin the economy balance". None has an answer from Bulkhead yet.
Every announced community server, by region → · How the economy works →