WARDOGS is officially up and running, but if you were hoping to jump in natively on Steam Deck or Steam Machine, there’s a catch. The game’s anti-cheat doesn’t work under Proton or Linux, so SteamOS support isn’t happening any time soon. The good news is that WARDOGS launched day and date on GeForce NOW, which gives Deck and Steam Machine owners a solid way to join in regardless.
What is WARDOGS?
WARDOGS is BULKHEAD’s tactical all-out warfare FPS, published by Team17. Up to 100 players split across three teams fight over randomised 2x2km Control Zones inspired by King of the Hill, with the first team to 100 points taking the match. Every player starts with $10,000 to spend on loadouts, gear, and vehicles between lives, and cash earned through teamplay and objective control carries over from match to match. It’s a destructible, vehicle-heavy sandbox built around combined arms combat, so helicopters, tanks, and fortified positions all come into play alongside straightforward gunfights.
Playing WARDOGS on Steam Deck via GeForce NOW
Since native Deck support isn’t on the table, streaming through the GeForce NOW client installed directly on the Deck or Steam Machine is currently the way in. WARDOGS has already pulled in over 260,000 daily active players, with a peak so far around 360,000, so there’s no shortage of matches to join.
On the GeForce NOW Ultimate tier, which is RTX 5080-rig enabled, WARDOGS runs on Steam Deck at 1920×1200 with high graphics settings. The Steam Deck OLED’s display caps the stream at 90Hz, but the game itself is comfortably capable of pushing past 120fps with DLAA anti-aliasing enabled, so there’s headroom to spare even through streaming. Gameplay-wise, flying vehicles felt easier with a controller, while aiming leaned more naturally towards mouse and keyboard, which fits WARDOGS’ first-person shooter roots.
On Steam Machine
Steam Machine owners get an even bigger boost, with WARDOGS able to run at 4K on high settings via GeForce NOW. It falls just short of 120fps at that resolution, but it’s still more than playable on the big screen for anyone wanting to bring WARDOGS into the living room.
A decent internet connection is essential for any of this to work well, and GeForce NOW’s Ultimate tier runs around $20 a month. There’s also a free tier available if you just want to test the waters before committing. Either way, WARDOGS on Steam Deck and Steam Machine is very much playable right now, even without native SteamOS support.
