Early Access diary

Desk log

What we already know without a dump

Dated desk lines, newest on top. We do not invent prices from someone else's patch. Update 0.1.2 leads, not the unlock hour.

1. 30 September Update 0.1.2. A window from 08:00 UTC of about an hour, services offline while it deploys. The studio fixes WD-L020 after Windows 11 KB5124010 and closes cash and XP exploits. For community-server admins: a daily restart in UTC and RCON AllowedHosts. We do not copy host prices. Studio post → · Counter → · For admins →
2. 26 September The studio posted 3 million copies in a little over two weeks of Early Access, and a Golden Joystick nomination for Best Early Access Game 2026. The vote is the community's. We are not building a sales chart of our own. Timeline →
3. 11 September The studio posted Launch Stability Hotfix #1 on Steam: everyone was logged out, take the client update, return to the login queue, they let people in in waves. A queue after the patch is not a reason to fix your PC. We do not invent a catalog from someone else's client. Studio post → · Counter → · Won't launch →
4. 10 September Early Access day. The studio never named the hour — the table counts from 17:00 UTC, the hour the beta opened, and is labelled a bearing. Queue and crash: the counter first. We do not invent prices from someone else's client. Unlock table → · Counter → · Won't launch →
5. 3 September The Steam storefront already carries Closed Beta 02: 18:00 UTC on 3 September → 08:00 UTC on 6 September. A pre-order guarantees entry; playtest waves do not. The beta and The FPS Games Show start in the same hour. The 'huge announcement' beyond that is still unnamed — we will add the line once they say it out loud. Timeline → · How to get in → · Twitch →
6. 1 September Two days to the showcase, nine to Early Access. The studio still has not named an unlock hour for 10 September — the storefront carries a date and nothing more — so we worked the time-zone table from 17:00 UTC, the hour the beta opened, and labelled it a bearing. We also opened the everyone-or-just-me counter: during the beta half the internet decided the servers were dead when it was a backend fault. Unlock table → · Counter →
7. 25 August The studio posted a beta recap. Nearly 500,000 unique players, a peak just over 100,000, refunds around 4%. The opening queue was blamed on a Twitch-drops and DLC backend fault — drops were switched off so people could get in. Studio figures from the video, not a measurement of ours. Video →
8. 25 August The Steam pre-order block was rewritten. First, the studio calls you to The FPS Games Show on 3 September at 18:00 UTC for a 'major announcement' — its words, and not one to miss. Second, anyone who missed the beta is asked to watch other players' first impressions and the studio's own '10 Reasons NOT to Buy WARDOGS' before buying. What will be announced is not stated, and we will not guess. Timeline →
9. 25 August Pulled the studio's monetisation position into one place: three Early Access commitments, gold bars, what $10 of Supporter Edition buys, and why monetisation still arrives after 1.0. Sourced from both Steam pages, not from retellings. Monetisation and pay-to-win →
10. 24 August, 02:00 UTC Servers went dark on schedule. The WARDOGS Playtest app may still sit in your Steam library — that is not an open server, the client no longer finds live matches. You need not delete it, but there is nothing to launch. The next dated moment is not 10 September but 3 September: the FPS Games Show, run by Bulkhead itself. Timeline →
11. 23 August First launch: on the voice-chat screen Play sits below the edge. Drop the Windows resolution, click, restore yours. Not a crash. No Play button →
12. 23 August Hosts sell a rent button, there is no binary. WD Help spec is ready: Frankfurt × 100, official dedicated, no prepay. Own server →
13. 22 August In the Steam support thread part of the players die before the menu. We collected a safe order: files, overlays, EAC, and a separate path if the whole PC falls. We do not publish anti-cheat bypasses. Crash on launch →
14. 22 August Day two of the window. Servers until 24 August 02:00 UTC. The free pool is still waves — no slot yet means the studio queue, not a broken client. After close: a pause until Early Access on 10 September. Checklist and bank stay in the browser; one mail goes out on launch day.
15. 21 August, 17:00 UTC The window opened on schedule. Pre-orders are in; free signup requests come in waves and, per the Bulkhead CEO, not aggressively until later in the weekend. If you are in the pool and still outside, that is expected, not broken.
16. 21 August The Steam page pins down what used to be paraphrased loosely: the Hot Zone pays double cash, progression runs on cash and XP, voice chat is local. We corrected those lines on our pages — one source, the storefront.
17. 21 August, morning The studio window has not moved: 17:00 UTC on the 21st to 02:00 UTC on the 24th. If Steam writes otherwise, this line changes the same day.
18. 18 August NDA is lifted. Streaming your own play — yes. Ripped textures and other people's dumps on this site — no.
19. This weekend We publish player observations only with a date and in their words. Prices from someone else's client, radars and 'full tables' are refused — even if mailed in.