WARDOGS unlocks Thursday at 16:00 UTC: the Early Access countdown

The hour

The date has been locked since August. Now the hour is too. BULKHEAD opens Early Access on Steam at 16:00 UTC on Thursday 10 September 2026, which is late afternoon in Britain, early evening on the continent, lunch on the US east coast and breakfast on the west.

Launch time where you live

UTC is the only clock the servers care about. Here is what the same minute looks like from the places most of you write to us from.

What happens at zero

At 16:00 UTC the Steam page flips from pre-purchase to play. If you have bought in already, the download starts the moment you press the button, and it is a 50 GB pull. On a 100 megabit line that is a little over an hour on a quiet day, and Thursday is not going to be a quiet day, since the whole beta population presses the same button at the same minute. If Steam offers a preload before then, take it.

Both editions are the same game. The Supporter Edition adds camos, a Little Bird paint job and a scoreboard tag, and nothing that gets you into a match faster. If you are still deciding, the launch guide has both editions, the price and where we land on the worth-it question.

Your wallet starts fresh. The opening balance is the only money the game hands you, so read how to spend your first $10,000 before the vendor screen does the deciding for you.

Will your machine run it

You need 16 GB of memory either way and 50 GB of disk. The floor runs the game at 1080p on low at 60 frames. The recommended line holds 1440p on medium above 70.

Launch night on the Discord

We are running launch night on the Discord. There is an event on the server calendar for 16:00 UTC: hit Interested and Discord pokes you when the doors open. The squad-up channels fill on big nights and this is the biggest one the game has had, so if you want four people and a vehicle instead of a solo queue, that is where they are. We will be in voice from the first minute.

One more thing to have ready: a clip recorder. BULKHEAD is running a $100,000 clip contest until 8 October, judged on teamwork, decision making, all-out warfare and creativity. One winner takes the money for real and 99 runners-up take $100,000 in in-game cash. Clips run two minutes or less, go up on X, YouTube, TikTok or Instagram with #WARDOGS100K and a tag on @WARDOGS, and then through the form on the contest site. Your first night in Early Access counts.

Get squared away before Thursday

Three days is enough to walk in knowing the ground. Do the reading now and spend the evening in the zone instead of the menus.

• Price your first kit in the loadout planner, with the magazines and the medical kit counted, so the receipt holds no surprises.
• Check your rifle in the damage calculator, then see where it sits in the TTK rankings.
• Learn the ground in the map explorer: towers, settlements, spawns and the Control Zone placements each rotation rolls between.
• Draw the FOB you want to stand on Thursday in the base builder and save it, so the plan is ready when the servers are.
• If you run a gun line, keep the artillery calculator on a second screen and share the relay code with your squad.
• Buy in on Steam before Thursday if you have not, so the only thing between you and the zone at 16:00 UTC is the download.