Wardogs Season 3 Brings a Slower Update Plan and Limited Servers

Wardogs’ rocky second season exposed a problem Bulkhead now says it can’t solve by shipping more content faster. The studio plans to slow its seasonal schedule, focus on the game’s fundamentals and use limited servers to give players a less demanding progression curve when Season 3 arrives on Thursday, November 12.

Executive Producer Joe Brammer, Lead Game Designer Pete Harries, Creative Director Tim Nightingale and Technical Designer Mark Tadros discussed the rollout and the studio’s response. Their assessment: Season 2 moved too quickly, progression accelerated more than expected, and the push to add content came at the expense of quality and core systems.

Season 2 moved too fast

Bulkhead announced during Season 2’s opening weekend that it intended to bring Season 3 forward significantly. That decision left players wondering whether it was worth investing time in a season that might soon reset. Nightingale says the early announcement created that uncertainty, while Tadros notes that Season 2’s faster progression was intended to make the game more approachable for casual players. A quick reset, though, undermined that goal.

The team had expected players to move through the game faster than they did in Season 1, when its systems and content were unfamiliar. It didn’t anticipate just how much faster. Nightingale says the studio misjudged the numbers; Brammer adds that Season 1’s pace would have been too fast as well, even without the Season 2 changes. The economy wipe was also quickly offset by rapid leveling, blunting the reset’s effect.

Brammer traces the studio’s missteps in part to the pressure that came with Wardogs’ success. Before release, Bulkhead had planned to accept that early access might have limited new content so it could work on the game’s underlying mechanics. After players progressed further than expected, the team became anxious about running short of things to do and reversed course.

That reaction was shaped by memories of Battalion 1944, Bulkhead’s earlier game, which failed to maintain a player base and led the studio to refund its Kickstarter backers. Brammer says those experiences and fears pushed the team toward cramming Season 2 with new material instead of following its established process of testing, iterating and discarding weaker ideas. The result, he says, was lower quality. Players encountered plenty of content, but progression XP was broken.

A longer season cadence, with room to refine

Bulkhead now says monthly seasons aren’t sustainable. Brammer describes the weekend’s response as a wake-up call: the studio can’t keep pace at that rate. Its current plan is to refresh the game every three months, with a smaller update halfway through each cycle. That schedule would give the team more time to test changes and tune the systems that shape the experience.

Progression design is part of that work. Brammer says Bulkhead wants to move away from Season 1’s heavy vertical progression, where the most powerful equipment sat at the end of the unlock tree. The team has discussed broader limits on when players can use certain gear and vehicles, but Nightingale is wary of restricting the sandbox freedom that defines Wardogs.

One issue remains unresolved: players can shoot down a Havoc helicopter only to see the same player return in another almost immediately. Brammer says the studio understands the frustration but doesn’t yet have a solution. Harries suggests that fuel could offer a way to make vehicle use more interesting, though the team hasn’t had time to develop that idea.

Limited servers offer a different starting point

Season 3 will add limited, or “primitive,” servers that remove power weapons and vehicles. The aim is to recreate the lower and middle stages of progression for players who find the current curve frustrating. Nightingale says Bulkhead initially wanted one shared experience, but expects to offer more play options as the team learns what different groups enjoy.

Season 3 is also set to bring another economy reset. The limited servers give players a way to experience Wardogs without the full range of high-end gear, while the reset marks a fresh progression start. The studio has not yet settled the longer-term fix for repeated vehicle respawns or its preferred balance between a shared sandbox and different server rules.

Player reviews and the pressure of live service

Season 2’s reception also put Bulkhead on the defensive. Brammer says he rushed out video responses because the game’s recent Steam reviews had slipped to mixed, a status he says can reduce visibility on the platform. He adds that the studio sold few new copies over the weekend. The team is also accountable to its board and business concerns, he says, which made the response feel urgent.

Some negative reviews came from players who had enjoyed their first 40 or 50 hours before Season 2 disappointed them; another player left a negative review after 250 hours. Nightingale says the game’s success has led some players to assume Bulkhead is much larger than it is. He says the team tests every day, but managing a live game requires close attention to how players respond to changes, something the studio is still learning.

Brammer says reviews matter to Bulkhead, while making clear he won’t ask players to change a rating they stand by. He does ask them to consider updating it if their view changes as the game’s direction improves. For now, Season 3’s date, fresh reset and limited servers are the clearest signs of that direction: a slower release rhythm, with more room to make each update work.