Hardcore shooter Wardogs became a Steam bestseller after a list of 10 reasons not to buy it

Developers must be pretty confident in their game when they are willing to list every reason not to buy it.

That is exactly what Bulkhead did in the latest dev log for Wardogs, a tactical milsim FPS heading into early access this September.

Wardogs has built up serious buzz this year, climbing into Steam top wishlisted games and rising ever since. The game is now available for pre-order and has already become the top-selling premium game on Steam.

Bulkhead knows Wardogs will not be for everyone, and that is, coincidentally, one of the "10 reasons NOT to buy" the game according to the studio itself.

Here are some of the more interesting points along with quotes from the developers.

The price:

Right now, you can preorder Wardogs for $39.99 on Steam and get access to the beta… If the price feels too high for an early access game, please don't buy it yet. Wait until the game has more of what you want, and consider it then… If you don't enjoy the beta, just refund it.

Player count will decline:

We expect our initial days after launch to have a lot more players than expected, but we can tell you for a fact that this is completely normal. Those players will fall away over the next coming months. Player numbers will drop off, and journalists and influencers on the fringe of the community will try to ragebait your enjoyment out of the game for social media clicks.

This doesn't mean the game is dying. We're thinking longer term than a flash in the plan. Our goal is to settle into a sustainable, close-knit community. If we're pulling in 3,000 to 5,000 daily concurrent players who genuinely love the game, it'll allow new players to buy in anytime and join an active community.

Monetization:

We will not monetize the game at any point during early access. We will never monetize in-game gold bars, they must be earned through play.

We will never allow you to purchase camos, with the sole exception of an optional supporter's edition. However Bulkhead will have ongoing running costs after 1.0, and those costs will need to be covered if base game sales no longer cover them.

We made Battalion 1944:

As much as we wanted our WW2 FPS Battalion 1944 to succeed, with the low player numbers of only 50 to 200 daily players, our publisher relationships broke down, the console version was held in limbo by lawyers, and we burned through our profits supporting the game.

We went dark on communication, way darker than we should've gone. If you still don't trust our studio because of Battalion 1944, don't rush to buy Wardogs. We hope our actions speak louder than words.

The video is essentially a clever framing for a design manifesto, laying out what Wardogs is and isn't so curious shoppers on Steam can decide if the game fits their taste, while also addressing common criticism along the way.

Wardogs is set to launch on September 10, and pre-ordering unlocks beta access on August 21. You can already add it to your Steam wishlist.