Read this before you buy
WARDOGS launched into Steam Early Access on 10 September 2026, on PC and console 【A】, and matches hold up to 100 players across three teams 【A】. Two requirements decide whether it will run on your machine before any graphics question is asked, and one platform exclusion decides it entirely.
This page covers the requirements that could be traced and separates them from the ones that could not. Where a number is missing, it is marked as unconfirmed rather than filled in with a plausible minimum, because a guessed hardware threshold is worse than an honest blank — a reader can act on a gap, but not on a wrong figure.
The platform gate
| Platform | Status at early-access launch | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Windows | Supported — the launch platform | 【A】 |
| Console, including PlayStation 5 | Released alongside the PC launch | 【A】 |
| Linux | Not supported | 【B】 |
| Steam Deck | Not supported | 【B】 |
The Linux and Steam Deck position is the most consequential line on this page. It is a stated platform gate rather than a temporary incompatibility, so it should not be treated as “wait for a Proton update” — the buy-or-wait page treats it as a purchase blocker for anyone whose only machine is one of those two.
Confirmed requirements and recommendations
| Requirement | Value | Grade |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | Reserve 50GB or more | 【B】 |
| Secure Boot | Recommended to enable | 【B】 |
| TPM | TPM 2.0 recommended | 【B】 |
| CPU minimum | 【Unconfirmed】 — not traced | 【Unconfirmed】 |
| GPU minimum | 【Unconfirmed】 — not traced | 【Unconfirmed】 |
| RAM minimum | 【Unconfirmed】 — not traced | 【Unconfirmed】 |
| DirectX version | 【Unconfirmed】 — not traced | 【Unconfirmed】 |
| Anti-cheat driver requirements | 【Unconfirmed】 — not traced | 【Unconfirmed】 |
Only three requirements could be traced: storage, Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 【B】. The four unconfirmed rows are not gaps in this page — they are the parts of the specification that this site could not verify, and the store page is the authoritative place to read them.
Read the table’s shape rather than looking for your own hardware in it. Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 are the two items most likely to cause a boot-level failure on an otherwise capable machine, because they are firmware settings rather than components. A machine that meets every performance requirement can still refuse to launch if those are disabled.
Official thresholds versus practical advice
| Item | Official position | Practical advice |
|---|---|---|
| Storage | 50GB or more 【B】 | Treat 50GB as the install size and keep more free; patches during early access add to it 【C】 |
| Secure Boot | Recommended 【B】 | Enable it before troubleshooting anything else; it is a firmware toggle, not an install 【C】 |
| TPM | TPM 2.0 recommended 【B】 | Check the firmware setting first — many boards ship with TPM disabled rather than absent 【C】 |
| Platform | Windows and console; no Linux or Steam Deck 【B】 | Decide before buying; no settings change substitutes for absent platform support 【C】 |
| Match size | Up to 100 players across three teams 【A】 | Expect the largest gains from stable storage and a wired connection rather than from a marginal GPU 【C】 |
The “practical advice” column is marked 【C】 throughout, and that grading is deliberate: it is this site’s judgement rather than a traced figure. The official column is what the publisher states.
Why 50GB deserves headroom
The stated reserve is 50GB 【B】. On a drive with exactly 50GB free, the install alone consumes the whole allowance, leaving nothing for shader caches, logs or the patch that lands two days later — which is exactly what happened in the first week, when Patch 0.11 shipped 48 hours after launch 【B】.
Two consequences follow. First, allow quiet headroom beyond the stated figure 【C】. Second, treat a full drive as a first-class suspect when diagnosing instability, because a game that cannot write its own cache often fails in ways that look like server problems. The server status page puts disk space in its diagnostic order for that reason.
Launch-state caveats that affect a purchase decision
Requirements are only half of a buy-or-wait decision. The launch state of the build is the other half, and three facts belong next to any specification:
- The build moves quickly. A price list on 9 September 【B】, a policy and Patch 0.11 on 12 September 【B】 — two changes with direct economy consequences inside the first week.
- Server selection affects your income more than your hardware does. Settlement scales with population — about 10 players pays almost nothing, about 45 pays roughly 80 percent, 60 or more pays the full rate 【B】. A capable machine on an empty server earns less than a modest one on a full server 【C】.
- Progression pacing can change between patches. Season 1 slowed the XP curve between levels 10 and 20 and flattened it after 35 【B】. A guide that promises a levelling rate is promising something the developer can change.
If it will not launch: the check order
- Confirm the platform. If you are on Linux or Steam Deck, stop — support was not available at launch 【B】.
- Check Secure Boot and TPM 2.0 in firmware. Both are recommendations 【B】 and both are commonly disabled by default.
- Confirm free disk space against the 50GB figure 【B】, with headroom.
- Confirm your operating system and drivers are current, then reinstall the launcher’s redistributables — this is the standard Windows conversation and it fixes most launch failures 【C】.
- Check whether anyone else is in the game. An outage looks identical to a local failure from inside the client; the server status page explains how to tell them apart using the publisher’s own channel.
No specific error code, crash signature or performance figure is published on this page, because none could be traced to a source. Anything of that kind here would be a plausible guess wearing a technical tone, which is the failure mode this site is built to avoid. The about page states the rule in full.