Release date
WARDOGS launched on 10 September 2026
WARDOGS launched into Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026, on PC only, at $39.99. Bulkhead named the date on 11 August 2026 and opened pre-orders the same day. Console versions are dated to 2028, and the studio expects one to two years in Early Access before a 1.0 release.
Early Access opens in
Status
WARDOGS is out now
Steam Early Access opened on 10 September 2026 at $39.99 — no invite, key or beta needed. If you own it and cannot get in, the live status page says whether that is you or the servers.
Status
Closed Beta 02 has ended
The servers shut at 08:00 UTC on Sunday 6 September 2026. There is no further test announced before Early Access, which opens on Steam on 10 September at $39.99.
$39.99 — Supporter Edition $49.99
United States pricing, verified against Steam's store API on 11 August 2026. The price is strongly regional: €39.99 in the Eurozone, £36.99 in the UK, R$119.99 in Brazil, Mex$454.99 in Mexico. Much of Latin America and Turkey sit on a separate US-dollar tier at $24.99/$29.99 — the same currency, 37% below the US price.
Steam store page ↗Roughly 24 months after launch — around September 2028
"Wardogs has a plan and will reach full release roughly 24 months after launching into Early Access in September." Tighter than the Steam page's "1 to 2 years".
Bulkhead, "10 Reasons why you should NOT Buy WARDOGS" devlog, 11 August 2026 ↗WARDOGS is out. It launched on 10 September 2026, into Steam Early Access, on PC only, at 16:00 UTC — 17:00 in the UK, 12:00 US Eastern, 09:00 Pacific. Bulkhead announced the date on 11 August 2026 and put pre-orders live the same day, ending a year in which the Steam page said only "2026". The next date is Season 2 on 15 October 2026.
Two Closed Betas came first, and both are over: the first ran 17:00 UTC Friday 21 August to 02:00 UTC Monday 24 August, and Closed Beta 02 ran 19:00 UTC Thursday 3 September to 08:00 UTC Sunday the 6th, guaranteed for pre-orders and by invite for everyone else until 21:08 UTC on the Saturday, when Bulkhead opened its last eleven hours to all. Early Access on the 10th was the first time WARDOGS could simply be bought rather than requested. See how beta access worked for the record of both.
Expect one to two years in Early Access before a 1.0 release — that range comes from the Steam page itself, not from speculation. The $39.99 Early Access price is expected to rise at full launch, because Steam's own guidance to developers is that Early Access should cost less than the finished game, and Bulkhead has confirmed it will follow that.
The dates, in order
| Date | What | Status |
|---|---|---|
| 5 February 2026 | WARDOGS announced by Bulkhead and Team17, "Early Access 2026" | Confirmed |
| 7–9 August 2026 | Closed Alpha — invite-only via FirstLook, now finished | Confirmed |
| 11 August 2026 | Early Access date announced; pre-orders open at $39.99 | Confirmed |
| 21–24 August 2026 | Closed Beta 01 — 17:00 UTC Friday to 02:00 UTC Monday, now ended | Confirmed |
| 3–6 September 2026 | Closed Beta 02 — 19:00 UTC Thursday to 08:00 UTC Sunday; open to everyone from 21:08 UTC Saturday | Confirmed |
| 10 September 2026 | Steam Early Access launch, PC only, 16:00 UTC | Confirmed |
| 15 October 2026 | Season 2 — date only, no patch notes yet | Confirmed |
| During Early Access | Price steps to $49.99 as content lands; one new map planned | Confirmed |
| Around September 2028 | 1.0 release at $59.99 — "roughly 24 months after launching" | Confirmed |
| 2028 | PlayStation and Xbox versions — year only, no month | Confirmed |
The 1.0 window comes from Bulkhead's 11 August devlog rather than the Steam page, which says only "1 to 2 years". Both are the studio's own words; the devlog is the tighter of the two.
What launched on 10 September
Bulkhead's first hard content figures, given the same day as the date: 37 weapons, 21 vehicles and three maps with three variations each. Bakurani and Ozeti were played in the betas; the third, Zestafona, is covered on the maps page. The studio paired the numbers with a warning that players "should not expect regular content drops" during Early Access — one new map is planned, and the effort goes to the metagame and bug fixes. The weapons and vehicles we recorded from the alpha vendor are the closest public list of what that build contains.
What is not dated
A console release, crossplay, and any monetisation beyond the one purchase — Bulkhead has said there will be none during Early Access. If you see a date for any of those, it is not Bulkhead's.
Labelled Confirmed — Stated by Bulkhead, Team17, or the official Steam page.
When does WARDOGS come out on PS5 and Xbox?
Confirmed2028. Bulkhead attached a year to the console versions on the morning of the PC launch, 10 September 2026: "coming to consoles in 2028". It had said since March 2026 only that it intended to bring WARDOGS to PlayStation and Xbox, without ever giving a window. The 10 September launch itself is PC only, through Steam.
What that means in practice: a console player still has nothing to pre-order, but now has a year to wait for rather than an open question. What is missing is everything finer than the year — no month, no quarter, and no word on whether the two platforms arrive together. The 2027 that circulated before this is a year early. Bulkhead, @WARDOGS on X, 10 September 2026 ↗
How long is Early Access?
ConfirmedThe Steam page says one to two years. Bulkhead has since been tighter than its own store page: a devlog puts full release at "roughly 24 months after launching into Early Access in September", which lands 1.0 at around September 2028 and sits at the far end of the Steam range rather than the middle of it.
The two figures are not in conflict — the store page is a range and the devlog is an aim inside it — but the devlog is the more specific of the two and the more recent, so it is the one to plan around. One new map is planned across that window, and the price steps up as content lands rather than staying at $39.99 to 1.0. Bulkhead, "10 Reasons why you should NOT Buy WARDOGS" devlog, 11 August 2026 ↗
Is there another beta before launch?
ConfirmedNo. Closed Beta 02 closed at 08:00 UTC on Sunday 6 September 2026; the first beta ran 21–24 August. Bulkhead opened the last eleven hours of the second test to everyone on the evening of 5 September, and that is the only open beta there has been, which made Early Access on 10 September the next time anyone plays WARDOGS — and the first time it can simply be bought rather than requested.
Before both there was a Closed Alpha on 7–9 August, invite-gated through Bulkhead's FirstLook programme. The three tests are worth knowing about as a guide to how any post-launch playtest would run: Bulkhead has used the same shape each time. How Closed Beta access worked →
What it costs on 10 September
$39.99 for the standard edition, $49.99 for the Supporter Edition, and the pre-order price is the launch price — buying early is not a discount, it is the same money sooner. What it does buy is the bottom of a ladder Bulkhead has confirmed it will climb: the price rises through Early Access and reaches $59.99 at 1.0. The full price ladder, and the regional tiers →
Between now and launch
How much does WARDOGS cost?
$39.99 now, the stair-step to $59.99 at 1.0, and the regional tiers that sit 37% below the US price.
PS5, Xbox and crossplay
Planned, undated, PC first. What Bulkhead has said, and what is only reported.
Can your PC run it?
The published minimum and recommended specs, checked against the parts you actually have.
Every announcement, dated
The full Bulkhead timeline with a link to each original source.
