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00:02Everyone is asking, when is the release date?
00:08God damn it, Joe.
00:10Give us the release date.
00:13I don't know when we didn't get any freaking release date or anything.
00:18No specific date yet, but they did say this year, so I'm guessing it's going to be soon.
00:24What if they did for a release date because they actually plan on releasing it really soon?
00:39That's it, it's now official.
00:41War Dogs is releasing into Steam Early Access next month, on the 10th of September.
00:47Steam pre-orders for War Dogs are live right now.
00:51Pre-ordering will guarantee you access into our upcoming closed beta ahead of release,
00:56allowing anyone who's interested in the game to try it out and refund the game
00:59if you don't like it.
01:00We fully get opening pre-orders for an early access game is kind of out of left field.
01:06So for context, opening pre-orders now helps us more accurately predict how many players and servers
01:12we need to be running in each region, which will massively help ensure stability at launch.
01:17After our insane response to our closed Alpha weekend, we just thought, why not? Our time is now.
01:22We just want to remind everyone that you can refund pre-orders and that we're more than okay with that,
01:27as it's the best way to open early access to the game for players who most want it without fully
01:32opening the floodgates.
01:33However, before the hype train gets out of control, we want to do something most AAA marketing teams would tell
01:39their dev teams to never do.
01:40Give you 10 legitimate reasons why you should not buy War Dogs.
01:49Reason number one is the lack of content and the speed at which we deliver it.
01:53Our focus has been on core gameplay and performance.
01:55From a business standpoint, we invested most of our money into those things,
01:59leaving less for content and the shiny things that actually sell games.
02:03What I'm saying is War Dogs has a content problem.
02:05We are launching with 37 weapons, 21 vehicles and 3 maps, with each of those maps having 3 variations within
02:12them.
02:13But after launch into early access next month, we'll be focusing on bug fixes, keeping the devs on hand to
02:18react to major feedback points and a new map.
02:21But beyond that, in order to hit the 1.0 release with our metagame and truly deliver on our vision
02:27for War Dogs as a title that can go the distance,
02:29we need to make sure that our devs are focused on exactly that.
02:33As a result, players should not expect regular content drops.
02:37We will update the game regularly, but the focus will be on balancing and fixing issues, just as early access
02:42was intended for.
02:43We want to make sure your expectations are set here before you purchase.
02:47You shouldn't expect monthly map updates or new vehicles being added.
02:51That's the plan for after 1.0.
02:53For now, we want to focus on building the metagame and making the improvements we identify throughout early access.
02:59And as a result, we're going to price it accordingly.
03:06War Dogs is not cheap to make, and at full release, War Dogs will cost $59.99.
03:12But we haven't delivered the metagame yet.
03:14If the game doesn't have all the features, we can't charge full price, so we're cutting it to $49.99.
03:21But with the lack of content in year one of War Dogs, we can't fairly justify that either, so we're
03:27cutting it to $39.99.
03:30Throughout development, we will step the pricing up to $49.99 when the relevant updates are delivered throughout that first
03:36year.
03:36Then, when we come true on our commitment to deliver the metagame and all the content in 1.0, then
03:42and only then will we step the price up to $59.99.
03:47Right now, you can pre-order War Dogs for $39.99 on Steam and get access to the beta.
03:53And if you don't enjoy the beta, or you just don't think the price is right, just refund it.
03:58We see this stair-step pricing approach as being the fairest method to reward the players who brought into War
04:03Dogs early,
04:04whilst also delivering a financial boost to the game later in its development, as we seek to continue to add
04:09value to the game.
04:10If the price feels too high for an early access game, please don't buy it yet.
04:15Wait until the game has more of what you want and consider it then.
04:21War Dogs is performing beyond our expectations, with 800,000 wishlists rising.
04:27But we still need to be level-headed about player expectations.
04:31Yes, we do expect our initial days after launch to have a lot more players than we expected.
04:35But we can tell you for a fact this is something completely normal,
04:38that those players will fall away over the next coming months.
04:42Player numbers will drop off, and journalists and influencers on the fringe of the community
04:46will try and rage-bait your enjoyment out of the game for social media clicks.
04:52This doesn't mean the game is dying. We're thinking longer-term than a flash in the pan.
04:56Our goal is to settle into a sustainable, close-knit community.
05:00If we're pulling in 3,000 to 5,000 daily concurrent players who genuinely love the game,
05:04it'll allow new players to buy in at any time and join an active community
05:09whilst we're free to keep building upon the War Dogs Foundation toward the larger 1.0 release.
05:18Reason number four is monetization.
05:20Why am I always doing these evil business ones?
05:23Can I please just have a cool game mechanic or something really fun?
05:31There are three things relating to monetization that you can hold us to account on.
05:36Number one, we will not monetize the game at any point during early access.
05:41Number two, we will never monetize in-game cash or gold bars.
05:45They must be earned through play.
05:47And number three, we will never allow you to purchase camos.
05:50Camos should show a player's status, not how much money they have.
05:55I think at this point we've made it abundantly clear there will be no monetization during early access,
06:00with the sole exception of an optional Supporters Edition.
06:03This includes three starter weapon skins, a little bird skin, and a couple of bobbleheads.
06:08It also includes a tag on the scoreboard for players who want to show off their support in-game.
06:14However, we don't want the stance here to be misconstrued of War Dogs never having monetization at all.
06:19That's not what we're saying.
06:20War Dogs will release into 1.0 and launch on multiple platforms, giving us a large boost in base-game
06:26sales
06:27that we can use to reinvest into the game for post-release.
06:30However, Bulkhead will have ongoing running costs.
06:33Player vault storage, stats, telemetry, anti-cheat updates, and servers on top of continued development costs
06:38that are expenses that need to be justifiable long-term if base-game sales no longer cover those costs.
06:45And to be clear, we're talking years in advance.
06:47It might seem strange to be talking about monetization that's years down the line,
06:51but we want you to be able to buy in knowing what you're buying into long-term.
06:57We hope that we've shown that we're more than happy to have open discussions
07:01to explore different approaches to problems before committing to them.
07:04Sometimes we'll be a bit off the mark, but good faith conversation is how we intend to find an acceptable
07:10line years in advance
07:11that feels fair and allows us to justify the continuous stream of content we want to serve up many years
07:18post 1.0 release.
07:19The War Dogs intellectual property is owned solely by Bulkhead, the developer.
07:23We have control of the future of War Dogs.
07:26So to wrap that point up, we recommend you don't buy War Dogs if you're staunchly against any form of
07:32monetization,
07:33as you'll become disappointed in a few years post release.
07:35Our goal is not to bleed players dry until they quit.
07:38It's to break even and then reinvest those profits.
07:45If you're buying War Dogs for the next breakthrough in video game graphics, you're in the wrong place.
07:50On the flip side, if you're expecting the performance of a 5v5 competitive shooter like Counter-Strike or Valorant,
07:57you're also in the wrong place.
07:58We've done a lot of work to make UE5 FPS ready over a range of hardware,
08:02but if you're expecting to play native 4K at 240 FPS, War Dogs is not the game for you.
08:09Every player's bar for what is acceptable performance is different,
08:12and we think what we've achieved with War Dogs is actually pretty good,
08:14considering the scale and the ambition of the title,
08:17and our alpha testers have also shared that same opinion.
08:19If you have a lower spec rig and want more confidence before pre-ordering,
08:23then have a look at our Steam page's minimum and recommended specs,
08:26and then check out our latest devlog where we show our alpha build running on a range of different hardware.
08:31Alternatively, pre-order the game, join in the beta,
08:34and if you don't get the performance you're looking for, or it doesn't live up to the hype,
08:37just refund the game. No hard feelings.
08:43We intend to use Early Access how it was originally intended,
08:47letting you play the Early Access build that shows the potential of War Dogs,
08:51whilst we work towards unlocking the full potential at 1.0.
08:55However, we will not have a linear roadmap or fixed content.
08:59Instead, we'll be testing things live with the community,
09:01much like we've been doing during our closed tests at seemingly random times,
09:05as the priorities of our development timelines shift.
09:08We know Early Access has earned a bad reputation,
09:11because many games forever remain in their unfinished state,
09:14with no plan to ever release.
09:15War Dogs has a plan, and will reach full release roughly 24 months after launching into Early Access in September.
09:22Reaching 1.0 isn't just important for us financially,
09:25it's about delivering our full vision for the game,
09:27and launching on multiple platforms to even more players.
09:34Yes, we are the developers of Battalion 1944.
09:37That's not hidden information or something to be shy away from.
09:40Ten years ago, when Bokeh was much, much smaller,
09:43and our developers much, much younger,
09:44we kickstarted and created a back-to-basics 5v5 World War II shooter called Battalion 1944.
09:51I think as much as we wanted Battalion to succeed,
09:54with the low player numbers of only 50 to 200 Bayley players,
09:57our published relationships kind of broke down,
10:00and the console version was held in limbo by lawyers,
10:02and we'd burn through our profits supporting the game.
10:05If we went dark on communication,
10:07it was way darker than we should have gone.
10:09And truthfully, we just didn't have anything to talk about
10:12other than the Bayley of Battalion and the glimmers of hope
10:15and passion project we were working on in our spare time.
10:19The entire time since Battalion died,
10:21we felt like we owed the community a debt.
10:23We just couldn't pay.
10:24Thankfully, Work For Higher Projects came in
10:27and helped keep the studio alive.
10:28And eventually, we saved enough money
10:30to be able to take the unprecedented step
10:33in refunding every Kickstarter backer
10:35who helped us bring Battalion to life in the first place.
10:37And it's these lessons and scars from Battalion
10:40that War Dogs has been built upon.
10:41It's why we've been so cautious with our playtesting
10:44and why we've been so open with our marketing.
10:47To be really clear,
10:48we wouldn't have War Dogs without Battalion's failure.
10:50But if you still don't trust our studio
10:52because of Battalion 1944,
10:54don't rush to buy War Dogs.
10:55We hope our actions speak louder than words,
10:57and you're always welcome to join the fun
10:59if you're willing to give our team another chance.
11:05War Dogs has a local VoIP heard by all three teams,
11:08and that means players will naturally talk shit.
11:12And not just players.
11:13The devs are going to do it too.
11:15I wasn't even paying attention to you.
11:17I bet you think you're doing fucking good as well, mate.
11:19If you are more sensitive to that kind of banter,
11:21you do have the option to mute individual players
11:23or VoIP entirely and disable the text chat.
11:26However, there is a line between banter and being a dickhead.
11:30And that line can be drawn by the community server admins,
11:33per server,
11:34and ultimately by us, the devs.
11:36Just for the record,
11:37if the devs that got banned from Twitch
11:39have to get involved and ban you,
11:41it's very likely that you're a dick.
11:50War Dogs' design is a PC-focused game for PC players first.
11:54But we know that some players want to just use gamepads,
11:56so there will be partial gamepad support at early access launch.
12:00However, keyboard and mouse will always be the optimal way
12:03to experience War Dogs on PC.
12:05With controller support comes the topic of aim assist.
12:08This will exist, but only to a small degree,
12:11as playing without it is honestly just comically bad.
12:17There aren't any handouts in War Dogs though.
12:19It requires mastery, skill, and knowledge to succeed,
12:22regardless of input.
12:23If the idea someone wants to play with a gamepad is a deal breaker for you,
12:27then don't buy War Dogs.
12:34Nobody likes dying.
12:35In War Dogs especially,
12:37if you're running in like you're playing Call of Duty or Battlefield,
12:40you will likely die to someone playing more cautiously.
12:43If you're not willing to learn from those deaths,
12:45you're gonna have a bad time.
12:46One of the complaints we see from players
12:48is about how long it takes to get back into the control zone after you die.
12:52Blissfully unaware that this is your punishment for dying,
12:56which creates an entire value vector for alternate roles such as pilots and drivers
13:01getting you back into the action.
13:03Instead of an arbitrary respawn timer on your UI like an arcade shooter,
13:06in War Dogs your respawn timer is instead based on the choices you make from spawn.
13:11Should you buy a vehicle or catch a lift?
13:13Which vehicle is the fastest?
13:15Can you trust that pilot or not?
13:17It all matters.
13:19How and who you travel with,
13:21how fast you're willing to get there
13:22and deciding the optimal route to get back into the action.
13:26Getting from the safe zone to the control zone,
13:28to holding on and respawning.
13:30Every decision has risks and consequences,
13:33with every outcome etched into your account balance.
13:35It's your cash, your decisions, your consequences.
13:39We've said it before,
13:40War Dogs is not for everyone.
13:42So if you can't cope with those stakes,
13:44you may want to place something else instead.
13:54There you go.
13:55There's ten reasons you shouldn't buy War Dogs.
13:57If you're still here after all of that,
14:00War Dogs Early Access might actually be for you.
14:02But why are we laboring these points?
14:04First, it all comes down to confidence.
14:07Confidence that you're buying a product from a team with a vision.
14:10We're not saying our game is perfect.
14:12We're saying here is our plan, here is our vision,
14:14we know what we want to make.
14:16We've got the confidence to put War Dogs in your hands
14:19before it's fully complete.
14:21Confidence that we've spent the last four years
14:23building something that players genuinely want.
14:26And confidence that War Dogs is not being made for everyone
14:29is the reason it will succeed.
14:31And if we're right,
14:32the commitment to take our profits and go all in
14:34on making our 1.0 release everything we know it can be.
14:38With a blessing from Valve,
14:39War Dogs Early Access and Supporters Edition
14:41is available to pre-order now.
14:43And purchasing will guarantee you access to our closed beta
14:46on the 21st of August to help you decide
14:48if you've made the right choice.
14:51You've listened and you've watched.
14:54Now is the time to play.
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