Bulkhead is drawing lines on the map in Wardogs. The studio said on Wednesday, October 21, that it has started “controlling regions” in its 100-player tactical shooter by lowering the maximum ping allowed on a server to 175, a move it says will keep out players from areas it describes as more prone to cheating.
What Bulkhead said
In a post on the official Wardogs account, the team said it had decided to protect “the largest amount of players from an influx of regions that are more prone to cheating.” It added: “It’s disappointing for us to have to put these divisions in place with social experience being such a core focus of Wardogs, but we must prioritize the largest group of players over the minority.”
According to IGN, the studio also said region locking is still being worked on behind the scenes and that it will be “getting stricter on cross pollination of regions.” Bulkhead admitted that letting players from certain regions in had not worked out as it hoped.
Players push back
The response has not been kind. IGN rounded up replies from players who say the cap stops them from playing with friends in other countries, including Americans with Australian friends, and some say they plan to ask for refunds. Players in Asia argue the change punishes legitimate users instead of fixing the anti-cheat itself, and some describe being falsely called cheaters in chat just for having high ping.
Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer responded on X, acknowledging that the decision is “harming a % of players to protect the larger.” He said the ping limit is a quick fix and “not a permanent solution,” and that the team is working on options for global players. He noted that tracking where people actually are is complicated by VPNs.
It is another bumpy week for the Early Access shooter, which recently pulled Season 3 forward after backlash over progression changes. Bulkhead has not said when a longer-term fix for cross-region play will arrive.
