Upcoming shooter Wardogs and franchise titan Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 4 both launched their weekend playtests today at 17:00 UTC. Going head-to-head against a Goliath like Call of Duty, most expected the lesser-known Wardogs to command only a fraction of Steam’s player base, especially considering its closed alpha previously peaked at just 16,016 concurrent users. Instead, the newcomer is holding its ground in a remarkably close race.
Modern Warfare 4 surged right out of the gate, peaking at 115,145 concurrent players on Steam roughly two hours after servers opened. While that figure comfortably tops the disappointing Black Ops 7 beta peak of 99,574 players, the initial momentum proved difficult to sustain. Over the four hours following its peak, MW4 experienced a sharp 37.8% drop, falling to 71,624 active players as early hype cooled off. Heading into the night, the game has managed to stabilize, settling around 68,558 concurrent players and holding steady in the 65,000 to 70,000 range for several hours, likely indicating an initial floor for the title.
Meanwhile, Wardogs took a far more consistent path. Launching in the same 17:00 UTC window, the game climbed steadily to reach a peak of 92,595 concurrent players by 20:00 UTC. Just as MW4 began to lose steam in the evening hours, Wardogs locked into the 90,000-player range and sustained it for over four consecutive hours. Currently, the title sits neck-and-neck right behind MW4 at 66,490 players.
While Modern Warfare 4 secured the higher initial launch spike, Wardogs has demonstrated far stronger player retention throughout its opening day, turning into a surprising head-to-head battle on the Steam charts. With both playtests running in the exact same window, the two tactical shooters may very well be eating into each other’s active player base, potentially capping peak concurrent numbers that both titles could have otherwise achieved.