Players of Wardogs, one of Steam’s biggest hits this month, are exploiting a team-switching mechanic to cheat and grief rivals mid-match, prompting the game’s executive producer to promise an urgent fix. The online MMO military shooter by developer Bulkhead allows participants to change sides at any point during play, but that flexibility is now being abused to sabotage well-defended bases, teamkill spawn points, and relay real-time intelligence to opposing squads.
The controversy has spread across the game’s official Discord server and subreddit, where frustrated gamers are documenting incidents of teammates turning into spies. In response, executive producer Joe Brammer publicly addressed complaints on Twitter, confirming that developers are working on a design fix and have added team-switching changes to an official roadmap for a future update.
A Feature Meant for Flexibility Turns Into a Griefing Tool
Wardogs is a large-scale shooter supporting up to 100 players fighting across a vast map, with objectives centered on capturing and holding forward operating bases. Defending these outposts requires building walls, gates, and defenses while stockpiling resources, making a well-prepared base difficult to overrun. However, the game permits players to switch between three teams whenever they wish during a match, a system that has proven easy to weaponize.
The most common abuse involves a player switching sides after infiltrating an enemy’s fortified FOB, then destroying its walls and defenses before their friends arrive to finish the raid. Others report losing players simply switching teams to teamkill opponents back at the main spawn point, while some use the mechanic purely to scout enemy positions and relay that information in real time.
“We’re deciding on a design fix for this at the moment.”
Joe Brammer, Executive Producer of Wardogs
The team-switching system exists primarily to help friends play together. Unlike most shooters, Wardogs lacks a modern lobby and party system, so players join the server their friend is in and then attempt to join that person’s team. The intended flexibility allowed late arrivals to swap sides and reunite with their squad, but the feature now enables matches lasting an hour or more to become deeply frustrating.
The Community Demands Action
With no vote-to-kick option available, players say griefers are difficult to counter. Brammer directly replied to a complaint on Twitter and confirmed via a Steam roadmap that changes to team switching are coming in a future update, though the community is also calling for additional tools like a vote-to-kick system.
The backlash arrives as Wardogs has exploded into one of Steam’s biggest releases this month. According to SteamDB, the game surpassed 400,000 concurrent players on PC, and developer Bulkhead recently confirmed it had sold two million copies. With that many people playing simultaneously, cheaters and trolls are an expected side effect.
Looking Ahead
Until a fix lands, players must contend with the possibility that any teammate could be spying for the other team. The developers have signaled that changes to team switching will arrive in an upcoming update, potentially curbing the most egregious abuse. For now, frustrated gamers can only hope the developer’s planned adjustments restore balance before the griefing drives more people away from one of Steam’s hottest new shooters.
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