WARDOGS Closed Beta Starts September 3, With a Bigger Reveal the Same Day

BULKHEAD has announced a fresh WARDOGS closed beta starting September 3, revealed in a video posted to the official WARDOGS channel on September 1, 2026. The studio calls it “a REAL test” and asks players to come break things, which reads as a stress and stability pass rather than a showcase build.

The same post says a larger announcement is still to come at the FPS Games Show. That show streams on Twitch on September 3 at 7pm BST, 8pm CEST, with WARDOGS on the confirmed lineup.

How to get into the closed beta

Access routes have not changed publicly since the August wave, so treat the following as the current picture rather than a final list.

• Steam playtest: Use the Request Access button on the WARDOGS Steam page to join the sign-up pool, which is free but not guaranteed.
• Pre-order: Pre-orders carried guaranteed entry for the August 21 to 23 beta, and BULKHEAD has not yet stated whether that guarantee applies to this test.
• Preload: Invited players received a separate WARDOGS Playtest entry in their Steam library last time, so watch for it appearing again.

What is confirmed and what is not

On September 3rd, the 2nd Closed Beta will start after the FPS Games Show. Early Access is still on September 10 at 39.99 USD, or 49.99 USD for the Supporter Edition.

This is a genuine scale test where they want players to jump in and break the systems – right after The FPS Games Show. To validate the stability of the WARDOGS systems properly, they will be increasing the number of Steam Playtest invitees in waves rather than opening the beta completely. This is to test areas of the game that only break at scale, such as server scaling and browsing, Twitch Drops, DLC entitlements, VOIP and the login queue.

We have loads of coverage on our WARDOGS page as details firm up, including anything revealed at the show. At the Devs say… “Lets Clap the Cheeks of WARDOGS!!”