One of the final hurdles before WARDOGS early access is a Closed Beta Playtest. It’s still limited, with BULKHEAD desperately trying to contain the sheer number of players trying to get in. Learn more about this test.
A huge announcement was teased for WARDOGS: A Closed Beta Playtest. If eligible, you and thousands of other players have permission to ‘Come break things’ to ensure WARDOGS is ready for early access.
WARDOGS Closed Beta Playtest End Date & Time
The devs have revealed that the Closed Beta Playtest is scheduled to end on September 6 or ‘Sunday AM (UTC),’ but have left the door open for possibly extending it.
As many players already replied to the original message, it’s Labor Day in the United States, as many of you know, and will enjoy, and they’ve asked BULKHEAD to extend the test by an extra day.
- More Insider Gaming: Is WARDOGS on PlayStation or Xbox? Console Status & Platforms
This might happen, as the official WARDOGS also added: ‘But we’ll keep you posted.’ Which is code for stay tuned for more updates, as we might very well extend the playtest for you.
How to Play WARDOGS Closed Beta Playtest End
You must go through the official WARDOGS Steam page and request access for the Closed Beta Playtest to stand a chance of getting in.
I’ll say this: even if you request access, it doesn’t mean you’ll get in. Even though it’s a more exclusive beta, spots are limited. But the social media page has been posting almost daily, revealing that new codes have gone out.
So, here’s what you need to do:
- Go to Steam.
- Search for and go to the WARDOGS game page.
- Scroll down to Join the WARDOGS Playtest.
- Click Request Access.
- Make sure you’re signed into your Steam account, or make one if you haven’t already.
- Then press the new Request Access button and confirm you want to be involved.
- Wait for a code, and then you can download and play WARDOGS!
Why Isn’t WARDOGS Playtest an Open Beta?
BULKHEAD has explained that they didn’t make this an open beta because they don’t want to overload the WARDOGS servers.
How many times do you play a new online multiplayer game, along with hundreds of thousands of other eager players, and it’s ultimately not a fun experience because you can’t get in?
- More Insider Gaming: WARDOGS Player Count Soars Ahead of Early Access Launch
That seems to be the case, and here’s a proper explanation to do the reasoning justice:
‘On the surface, this might seem like a good idea. If you’re comparing our systems to AAA Franchises, they have very mature and proven systems that have been used on countless iterations of their franchises.
Imagine there is a house fire, you’re a firefighter. You turn up, and your sole job is to put the fire out. Then after the fact, when the house has burned down… it’s not until the days after that you figure out what the source of the blaze was.
In this situation, what we’re doing is starting a controlled fire and seeing what burns the fastest to help us prevent and manage a blaze if one does occur in the future.
Our stuff is all new, and whilst it’s subject to a lot of automated testing with fake clients… real humans are different.
If we open the floodgates, very few systems hold up to the numbers we hit in our first Beta; having 100,000 players spam a queue isn’t that useful to us. What we want to know is really boring stuff, like “what happens when over 100k players are in the server browser, and everyone is clicking on servers..”
It’s infinitely more difficult to find the cause of an issue if everything is on fire, and that’s the best analogy here.’
But you don’t have long until early access begins if you can’t get in anyway.
Have you been able to play the beta? Let us know on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
For more, read ‘Complete XBOX Disc-to-Digital Games List,’ and don’t forget to sign up for our weekly newsletter.
Andy is Insider Gaming's Senior Evergreen Editor and has been in the games journalism sphere in one way or another for over 7 years. His video game taste is as…
More from Andrew Highton
Comments