WARDOGS release time: when Early Access unlocks in your time zone
Wednesday 10 September 2026, 16:00 UTC. UK 17:00, Central Europe 18:00, US East 12:00, US West 09:00, Sydney 02:00 Thursday. The Steam page enables the launch button at that moment; the store itself often lags a few minutes.
Unlock time by zone
| Zone | Local time |
|---|---|
| UK (BST) | Wed 10 Sep, 17:00 |
| Ireland / Portugal | Wed 10 Sep, 17:00 |
| Central Europe (CEST) | Wed 10 Sep, 18:00 |
| Eastern Europe / Finland (EEST) | Wed 10 Sep, 19:00 |
| Moscow | Wed 10 Sep, 19:00 |
| India (IST) | Wed 10 Sep, 21:30 |
| Singapore / China / Perth | Thu 11 Sep, 00:00 |
| Japan / Korea | Thu 11 Sep, 01:00 |
| Sydney (AEST) | Thu 11 Sep, 02:00 |
| New Zealand | Thu 11 Sep, 04:00 |
| US East (EDT) | Wed 10 Sep, 12:00 |
| US Central (CDT) | Wed 10 Sep, 11:00 |
| US Mountain (MDT) | Wed 10 Sep, 10:00 |
| US West (PDT) | Wed 10 Sep, 09:00 |
| Brazil (BRT) | Wed 10 Sep, 13:00 |
Before it unlocks
- Preload if you pre-purchased. 50 GB on launch-week Steam is slow; do it overnight.
- Set Steam's download region to a nearby city if it crawls (Settings → Downloads).
- Update your GPU driver today, not at 16:59.
- Turn off overlays and read the crash fixes once, so you're not reading them at 17:05 with the queue growing.
- Check the system requirements if you haven't bought yet.
What launch hour will look like
The beta peaked at about 245,000 concurrent players on Steam. Expect the Epic Online Services backend to be slow for the first hour, the server browser to come back empty until you pick a single region, and servers to fill within seconds. Community servers from the approved hosts with a queue are the calmest way in.
Known launch issues
Tracked live on the known issues page, updated through the first week.
FAQ
What time does WARDOGS come out in the UK?
17:00 BST on Wednesday 10 September 2026.
Can I preload WARDOGS?
Pre-purchasers can preload on Steam ahead of the unlock. It's 50 GB, so start it the night before.
Is it the same time worldwide?
Yes, a single global unlock at 16:00 UTC; the table converts it.
Sick of full servers and queues?
Rent your own WARDOGS server from an approved host and play with your mates on your rules. UK/EU: QONZER (bare metal, no slot fees). Anywhere else: BisectHosting (21 locations). Casual group: xREALM (pay by the hour). Full comparison.