Analytic Dreamz: Notorious Mass Effect - "WARDOGS DEVS CELEBRATE 3 MILLION SALES BUT WARN THAT "HYPE WON'T LAST FOREVER"

Episode Date: October 10, 2026

Linktree: ⁠⁠https://linktr.ee/Analytic⁠⁠Join The Normandy For Ad-Free NME, Additional Bonus Audio And Visual Content For All Things Nme+! Join Here:⁠⁠ ⁠⁠https://ow.ly/msoH50WCu0K⁠⁠ In this segment of Notorious Mass Effect, Analytic Dreamz breaks down WARDOGS, the large-scale tactical multiplayer FPS from Bulkhead and Team17 that entered Steam Early Access on September 10, 2026. Combining 100-player matches among three PMC factions, a persistent cash economy, vehicles, construction, and destructible maps, the game sold 3 million copies in just 18 days and peaked above 428,000 concurrent players. Analytic Dreamz explores its design roots, commercial explosion, technical launch struggles, and roadmap toward 2028 console versions.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/analytic-dreamz-notorious-mass-effect/exclusive-contentPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Shepard promise me you'll tell them to subscribe for at free content now imagine being a company that is worth around a hundred billion dollars shepherd you know I'm saying just look at the state of gaming like what is going on and then you come to realize we have honor of kings under our belt that's made roughly 13 billion dollars pub g mobile that's made around $9 billion. And of course, as far as Valoran Delta Force, I mean, that's an afterthought as far as the amount of revenue

that Tencent has generated. So what happened with a specific game that in all intents and purposes, they wanted to be the next caller duty. So they was like, hey, here's $40 million. Here's a $50 million budget.

And then they said, no. You guys. See, that's the problem. Tencent probably thinking to themselves, how dare they refuse our $50 million budget? Shepard. Yeah, one more time, Lear. Just look at the state of gaming.

Like, what is going on? And then you come to realize not only did they beef over not wanting the money, right? So Tencent was befuddled. They was straight up flabbergasted on why this specific gaming development company, as far as Bokhead, not wanting the cash. and then you come to realize they split, right? And then this company, Bokehead, puts out a specific game titled War Dogs that is currently one of the biggest FPS shooters on the market.

Now, ladies and gentlemen, as far as notorious mass effect, get into the gaming and music IPs that notoriously affect the mass, it's safe to say not only did Bokhead completely know the popularity and the potential of war dogs, but they bet on themselves basically going away from Tencent to fund their own game as when you look at it specifically, Tencent wanted a $50 million budget because the likes of Call of Duty, battlefield,

those are the type of budgets they were working with. So ultimately, when they looked at Bocad hitting, mind you, they was hitting the quotas, right? And four-day weeks, work-day weeks, right? So they were,

were thinking they had to be skimbing out on something from a 10-send perspective they was looking at bulkhead's development cycle and thinking that if they're not using all of this money a the original plan must have more padding because obviously they're not adding enough content b they was probably saying to themselves bulkhead is probably under investing in quality polish or capacity related to the stated ambition, right? Or C, the project will not generate the returns and like required by Tenson, mind you, Tenson, one of the biggest gaming companies ever. They would not receive enough revenue because of their lack of spending, right? And then they start to split and ultimately, Bokehead continued to put out war dogs and not only did it have an all-time peak

of 26 days ago of 428,000, but then, And of course, when you look at the concurrent player count right now, it is currently the six most play game on Steam. With 138,000 players concurrently right now and a 24-hour peak of 177,000. So, of course, as you can see, analytic dreams video on Spotify, to see the video along with the audio. Obviously, the overall popularity is coming down a little bit, but those numbers right, well, these numbers right here, still very respectable, especially in the land of FPS shooters. So War Dogs is now facing another problem as far as the game, not even being out. You guys.

See, that's the problem. You're probably saying to yourself, how in the world is a specific game topping the charts on Steam? And it's not even out yet. Well, I'm glad you asked. As when you look at War Dogs and the 1.0 timing, we actually don't have a release date as far as version 1.0. But the early access released September 10th, 2026. And of course, when it comes to the console versions,

they're playing for 2028. I know that ain't who I think it is. Not the year of 2028 for a game that's already popular on Steam. It's almost as if the PC Master race is a real thing. You know what I'm saying? Now I'm not trying to make any console enthusiast man, but when you look at War Dogs, specifically and the amount of revenue that's been driven out of the gate.

This is very, um, this is different territory for Bockeye because it has successes in the past because when you look at Boket, if you don't know, they are a UK studio founded in 2015 by University of Derby graduates, right? Joe Brammer, David Jones, Howard Phil Pott, hopefully that says his name right. And they're known for the touring test, Battleon, 1944. Those specific games, well, Battleon specifically had $580,000 out the gate. And, well, no, actually, it took like 11 days to accumulate, I believe. So then they were acquired by Splash Damage slash Tencent.

I know that ain't who I think it is. And then, of course, throughout the beef that I just talked about with Tencent, they sold December 2025 to Consortium Super Media Group, Everplay slash Team 17 parent And Everplay holds 20 to 28% stake. Now, why that's important? Because now when you look at Team 17 and the rebranding aspect,

you come to realize that Ward Dogs is this Bocke's most successful project ever. I mean, by far. It's not even close. So we're going to get into the gameplay loop in a second. But of course, over here, notorious mass effect. We get into the gaming and music out piece

that notoriously affected Mass. So I wanted to start off with some of the sales and while we even diving into warheads in the first place. As of course, when you look at the numbers, you come to realize that Tenson definitely fumbled war dogs. Now, of course, they still have a lot, a long way to go to be even compared to the longevity of a battlefield or a call of duty. But out the gate is doing very well to the point where they are starting to drum up even more anticipation. because if you don't know, this game is around $50 and the game is not even released yet, right? So people are already enjoying, I'm not going to say a vertical slice because apparently it's very well optimized as far as the multi-player aspects. And the feedback is really received and they fix certain things.

And of course, when it comes to revenue, they're building and using that towards version 1.0. Now, of course, when it comes to the release date, we have no idea. But Bramer came out. We'll get into Bramer in a second. He said a lot of things But basically, I was wanting to get his full name So I think he's the CEO, I believe Yeah, the CEO Bramer

I think I said his name earlier As far as one of the, yeah, Joe Bramer So Joe Bramer came out and basically said If you don't agree with our Direction, they don't buy the game I was like, oh, who did he do? Ain't the way he said that Who did he do? And we beat him? We beat him. We go for it.

You know, not to sound dramatic But CEO coming out saying if you don't like it, don't I mean, usually as far as the PR handbook one-on-one, you know, you probably reading through it. And, you know, on the title page, probably skipped it. It said, don't disrespect the audience. You know what I'm saying? You got it. You got it.

You on the world. See, that's the problem. But obviously, it didn't make any difference because he disrespects his audience left and right. You know what I mean? I mean, he said a bunch of things. It's not even just that. I mean, as far as Joe Brayman, we can have a whole segment on him individually, right?

He said a lot of things. and let me actually let me go on my nose right quick okay so after doing a little Mickey research throughout my notes I have to say when it comes to Joe Bramer he said a lot of different things he talked about how that's not it yeah that's not it oh here we go

he's talked about how if you don't want to crunch to develop a game then you don't really want it basically quote he said place you come to work hard when talking about the war dogs bokehead development culture this is the place you come to work hard and crunch If you don't want to crunch, we expect crunch. And that means if you don't want to do it, that means you don't want to work hard.

So that rub gamers the wrong way, right? Then he came out with the scaling of video games saying games, I kid you not. He literally said games should cost more exciting, specifically, GTA6. I know that ain't who I think. I mean, he's just doing, hey, anyways. So with that being said, also, he's talked about other things as far as the game specifically. and I think because of the sales there's no reason to like fire him

and I would never call for that it's not like what I'm trying to insinuate basically I'm just saying why he rubs certain gamers the wrong way so anyways getting back into the sales of war dogs it's doing phenomenal as far as out the gate

I believe it had like let me see I think I had a hundred something let me see as far as because when you compare when you compare bulkhead previous games to war dogs it doesn't even come close like battle on 1944 it sold roughly 250 000 copies in 11 days right war dogs is millions in early access i mean they're

just built different so now when you have war dogs having so much success we have no idea when version 1.0 is coming out and i looked it up and they said we don't know either i was like hold of now you guys nobody knowing so nobody nobody knows when the actual full game is coming out but they're still enjoying the early access so if you don't know now time to get into war dogs as war dogs is a large scale tactical multiplayer of course developed by bokehead right and published by team 17 now the early access came out September 10th 2026 when you look at the overall gameplay loop there's 100 players 100 players across 3 PMC now of course when it comes a PMC i think i looked that up so uh when it comes the PMC i actually don't know

exactly what i don't know the abbreviation what that means but i do know it's inspired by armor three king of the heel so what that means is basically you have a lot of different classes in the specific that that you can choose from so you have assault you have medic you have support recon driver pilot a lot of people compare this the battlefield i swear is very different in every sense of like war dogs has three teams battlefield has two right you have single randomized control zone versus multi-objective modes you have a persistent cash economy with war dogs versus unlock slash classes like there's a lot of differences between war dogs and battlefield i think the large scale of a hundred players is makes people automatically assume at fps with a bunch of players equals battlefield

which is not necessarily correct so anyways um getting back into the the gameplay loop so you have a hundred players and you're all are fighting over territory so now that you're fighting over territory let's get into the more in-depth on what makes war dogs unique so every player starts off with ten thousand dollars money carries between matches weapons armor utility and vehicles or purchase for each life dying means losing the purchase kit players each each each players earn money through holding objectives, reviving, transporting teammates, constructing, spotting, supplying, and flying,

not only kills. Players can also tip teammates. What in the actual? What in the... What that mean? Part two, come no evidence. Where is your proof, bro? I don't know what that means, but you can tip teammates.

And of course, when it comes to the overall war dogs level, you uh this all combines into the level right and the gates have access for the shop and items still require cash after being unlocked so it's pretty intricate but the way i laid it out was very much lamest terms of course there's all type of guys out there as is the fps shooter so you know all the videos in the world it's coming out about about the best build and the best way to generate revenue so when you look at the standard edition is $39.99. Basically $40.

And then you come to the supported edition is $59 with cosmetics and the price is expected to increase towards version 1.0. So if you want it cheaper, you may want to get it now because when it initially comes out

it may be more expensive. Now those are just reports. It's not set in stone. But of course, when it comes to the success of war dogs, I believe they will probably not try to rub their fan base in a wrong way because of having so many people invested into the game.

I mean, over 1 million plus wish lists, over 100,000 easily, like I just saw it as far as the numbers at the beginning of this segment, as far as concurrent player count, the overall peak reaching almost half a million is insane. They are having tremendous success. One million copies on day one, 1.2 million copies in 24 hours, 2 million after roughly five days, three million copies after 18 days. I mean, this is an insane run that War Dogs is on right now. So, of course, me being a Hall of Fame pocket watcher, you know what I'm saying? No, I'm just saying, I'm just saying I'm a Hall of Fame pocket watcher. So with that being said,

War Dogs, the revenue has been estimated to be around $70 million. Just know if you didn't get it anywhere else, you got the Hall of Fame Pocket Watcher listing out their price you know what I'm saying you ain't got to do all that come on Drewski I ain't got to do all that

but definitely make sure to rate this five stars so anyways getting back into War Dogs specifically and how much reception positive reception they've received is to the point where now the launch issues

are is bloviated the right word I think so basically it's increased to the point where the queue is very interesting. As some people have experienced access, denied server outages because, I mean, the mammoth of people trying to play this one game

is, and with this game being an early access, I mean, it just took the team by storm, I assume. So now they're definitely fixing that. And I mean, it's a good problem to have because it's very popular, but still at some point, with the CEO even coming out saying, quote, they was overwhelmed by the long. I know Tencent probably looking at them saying, oh, you don't say.

I know that ain't who I think it is. It's almost like you sure took our $50 million budget. All right, my fault. Anyways. So with their success, I think the extra money from Tencent could have helped offset the launch problems. But that's just me. Obviously, y'all just had success by yourself after leaving them in December 20, 25, or whenever that was. But basically, I think maybe the money that Tencent was trying to give you all, what's for actual reasons.

So anyways, I think they're going to still continue to be fine in the long run as they already have a season two plan set for October 15, 2026, as there's new content and rain slash dynamic rainy weather has been teased. I think I played it at the beginning of the segment. So once again, analytic dreams video on Spotify to see the video along with the audio. Because actually, I just played again while I, let me see. I think I had it right here. Yeah, so this is the road to season two.

So you just, yeah, here's the weather. as far as the changes. But anyways, so season two is going to have weather, whatever that does for you. Boghaz says it's already working on season two and beyond. The studio acknowledges that launch hype will eventually decline and that sustaining the large, no, sustaining the player base will require continue updates. Bramer came out and said that the team intends to experiment season by season

rather than simply preserving the launch formula. And of course, the studio has stated that there would be no early access monetization, but the future, as far as the official version, whenever it comes out, remains undecided. Now, with the console versions being slated for 2028, I would assume that version one, as far as the PC version, the official version,

whatever, will come out later in 2027 at the latest. That's just my opinion. I don't have any sources on that. That's just me looking at the research and making an assumption. So anyways, when you look at other things involving war dogs, you come to realize that not only is Joe Bramer, I'm not going to say he's gloating because, you know, being this successful with war dogs,

I mean, safe to say the years you put into it, seeing it pay off like this, you mean, you probably raise your confidence about 10 times, you know, 10x, I kid you not. So now when you come to. realize that a lot of people are putting their hopes and dreams into your specific game, version one has to come out correctly because the excuses that you can give when it's early access is different from the excuses you can give when version one officially hits the market.

So even though the steak has, I think ever played, no, not ever play. Overall, when it comes to war dogs and the launch timing, the sales is through the roof. So now when you're looking at budgets as far as Tencent wanting to give you 50 million and you're not wanting to do that, I don't think the player base when the game officially launches would be so lenient because you had that opportunity. It would be different if you was like, oh, I can't find a label to fund my music project, you know, to bring it back into music. But then that label obviously tried to give you money. You didn't go with it to skimp out on certain things. I think the player base, when the actual version comes out, they would not be as lenient or as empathetic because you had the opportunity to get a lot of money from Tencent in the first place.

So I think that it was basically when it comes to the sales and the overall aspect of Ward Dogs. We're getting into the review Roundup. There's not too many because, of course, it's in early access, but there's a lot of positive reviews. Eurogamer say early access, so they're not giving the score. But they did give a review saying, quote, a mix. of various competitive shooters, best bits, but also something entirely new. War Dogs, even in early access, is already a brilliantly refreshing take on the genre. Polygon gave their impression saying, quote,

War Dogs is one of the most interesting FPS games of the last decade. Interesting, that's crazy. And he also went on to say an arguably one of the best. It has a long road ahead of it, but even if you do, don't think the actual combat will be for you, either due to the slower-paced nature of it or your lack of ability to actually get kills. If you have friends who are playing,

learn how to fly a helicopter instead. Become the best builder you can, buy a truck each game, and ferry supplies to any base your team has set up. War Dogs, posits, and posits? I don't know if that's the right way to pronounce it. I think it is.

It's P-O-S-I-T-S. That's the right way y'all let me know. But I think he meant to say positions. Maybe I'm tripping. Yeah, I'm just going to replace that word. So War Dogs positions an intriguing future for the FPS genre as a whole. Yeah, there's definitely typos in this.

There's more to this than just shooting guns. Also, it's the best FPS game for people who don't play shooters. What in the actual? What they even mean? See, that's the first. Anyways, that was Polygon's impressions, and the last would definitely not least game in bulk gave it an early access review saying, quote, there are not a lot of multi-player shooters that can genuinely make you feel like you're playing a completely different game from another person in the same match. War Dogs pulls this off to create an experience that feels both very and simultaneously purposeful.

War Dogs doesn't necessarily do anything new within the FPS space. There is nothing here that you won't have seen before if you are well versed in the genre. However, it does include a huge variety of these tried and tested systems to execute each of them pretty well. While War Dogs is not a perfect game, it is well worth checking out if you are looking for an addictive, rewarding experience. So getting into the review and sales round up and actually delivering a number. consolidating it for the audience, you know, hopefully enjoyed it. The main thing for me is that this may be, I'm not even going to say it. Because, you know, I would say call it duty killer, but you already know.

You already know that every time you say that, you're basically saying your game off of defeat. So I'm not going to say that. But I will say, as far as the FPS aspect, I wonder how long war dogs can keep this momentum going after already showcasing season two, with that being set to launch October 15, in 2026, obviously they showcase how they can continue the content as far as updating it and showcasing how they're receiving feedback and changing their core gameplay model. But ultimately, when it comes to the actual launch of War Dogs, that probably won't come

to the foreseeable future because, I mean, if the console versions are playing for 2028, once again, then Lord knows when the PC version is going to actually come out. But as it right now, you still have a fantastic package of the FPS game. game on your hands. So with that being said, click my link through my bio and let me know one of my social media, click my link to show me in my bio to follow me on my social media. And if you're on Spotify, make sure to comment down below being 10 months in to the year of 2026. What is your favorite game of the year?