After its release on 10 September 2026, WARDOGS ran into several problems at once: long login queues, players getting kicked from servers, game crashes and a wave of false bans. The developers at BULKHEAD fixed some of it on day one and more in patch 0.11 from 14 September. The state described in this article is accurate as of 15 September 2026 and the game is being patched quickly, so it may change soon. Here you will find what happened with the queues and servers, where things stand with crashes and voice chat, how the anticheat works, how to officially appeal a ban and what the developers consider abuse of bugs.
Login queues and server kicks
On release day, players ran into three problems at the same time: they could not connect to servers, the game kicked them out mid-match and the login queue kept stretching out of all proportion. The developers released Launch Stability Hotfix #1 the same day. They forced every logged-in player to close the game, restart it and download the update, and then let them back in in batches.
They explained the cause in a post-release interview. Login “tickets” were expiring for players in the queue, so instead of a hundred players a second, only ten made it through the gate. The fix works by giving you a fresh login ticket from Valve only once you are at the front of the queue.
Patch 0.11 then rebuilt the way you pick a game: the server browser was split into official (Official) and community (Community) servers. The developers themselves admit that a game with this many players should realistically use matchmaking and that a server browser is not ideal for it. Favorite servers and team-switching controls are among the planned features.
The match will not start or you cannot pick a team
Sometimes you get stuck on the team selection screen. You cannot pick a full team, and the match will not start until enough players have gathered. After release there was an added quirk: players avoid the blue Lonestar team, so green and red tend to be full while blue is short of people. When the selection screen is held up by the blue team, you can get the match moving by joining Lonestar. The factions do not differ in gameplay terms, the only difference is the color, the starter rifle and the starting position. There is more in the article on the Control Zone and the three teams.
Crashes and performance
The developers are working through graphics card crashes step by step, and patch 0.11 lists fixes for further GPU crashes. Season 1 brought these changes:
- a fix for two crash causes in the DLSS Frame Generation pipeline,
- the option to turn off DLSS Frame Generation without restarting the game,
- shadows stay on the Low setting at a high benchmark score instead of being turned off entirely,
- a fix for a crash related to building.
The crash advice circulating among players is not an official recommendation from the developers. Graphics settings for stable FPS are covered in the article on WARDOGS settings.
Voice chat
Voice in WARDOGS has two channels: proximity chat (distance-based voice chat) can be heard by nearby enemies too, while the squad has its own channel. The Season 1 changelog brought three changes to voice. It fixed a permanent voice dropout after a failed connection, improved voice reliability under heavy load and added a visible communication status indicator. How to use voice chat in a squad is covered in the article on squads and voice chat.
Anticheat and false bans
WARDOGS uses a kernel level anticheat, listed on Steam under the name Elytra. You do not have to have Secure Boot or TPM enabled for now. The developers do reserve the right in their rules to introduce that requirement at any time, though.
Right after release, the anticheat banned legitimate players too, well-known streamers among them. Studio co-founder Howard Philpott later admitted it: the studio had promised zero tolerance for cheating, but that very quickly turned into banning its own legitimate alpha testers. CEO Joe Brammer added that a human must always be involved in bans.
How to appeal a ban
The process is described in the official enforcement rules (Enforcement) on the game’s website. First make sure which penalty you received, because only one type can be appealed:
| Type of penalty | Can you appeal? |
|---|---|
| Permanent account ban | Yes |
| Temporary ban | No, it is final |
| Server restriction | No, it is final |
| Hardware (HW) ban | Not on its own. It is lifted if your appeal against a permanent account ban succeeds. |
- Check that you have a permanent account ban. The other penalties cannot be appealed.
- Send an email to appeal@bulkhead.com. Include your account name and platform.
- Wait for a reply. The developers aim to respond within 30 days.
- Expect the appeal decision to be final. There is no second round of appeals.
What counts as an exploit under the rules
Patch 0.11 fixed “various cash exploits”, meaning bugs that could be used to chase money. The developers published the rules they follow alongside it:
- Abusing cash exploits: a temporary ban and money and XP reset to zero.
- Spreading guides to exploits without reporting the bug: a permanent ban.
- XP farm servers: if the system records that you spent more than a few minutes on such a server, you get a permanent ban. The developers track which servers you connect to.
- Trying out a bug you found: if you discover a bug and try it once or twice, the developers say there is no problem and treat it as help with testing.
Exploit fixes also show up in the changelogs. Season 1, for example, fixed a bug that let players reach an unintended spot on a church roof, and it rescaled the prices in supply crates so that cheap items cannot be abused. How to earn fairly is described in the article on money in WARDOGS.
Cheaters and reporting players
You report a player who breaks the rules directly in game through the reporting tool, where you pick a reason. Up to the last 50 messages from text chat are attached to the report. The developers also recommend community servers as the best protection from cheaters, because an admin there can ban a problem player immediately.
Steam Deck and Linux
WARDOGS does not work at launch on the Steam Deck or on Linux through Proton. The details and the option of playing through the cloud are in the article on system requirements.
FAQ
After release, players were hit by long queues and expired login tickets. The developers responded with Hotfix #1 from 10 September 2026 and a change to the queue. If you get stuck on team selection, try a team that has room, often the blue Lonestar, because the match will not start without enough players.
Send an email to appeal@bulkhead.com with your account name and platform. Only a permanent account ban can be appealed, the developers aim to respond within 30 days and their decision is final.
No. Under the rules, temporary bans, server restrictions and standalone hardware bans are all final.
A kernel level anticheat, listed on Steam as Elytra. Secure Boot and TPM are not required for now.
Yes. Abusing cash exploits risks a temporary ban plus a reset of your money and XP, while spreading guides without reporting them and spending longer on an XP farm server mean a permanent ban.
Not at launch. Through Proton the game does not work on the Steam Deck or on Linux as of release.