Wardogs Has a Major Discrimination Problem

58 minutes ago 7

Published Sep 15, 2026, 12:04 PM EDT

An anti-blue meta is emerging

A player in Wardogs shooting an enemy from behind cover in a factory.

Wardogs, the first-person shooter that is currently taking Steam by storm after selling more than 2 million copies in under a week, has a huge discrimination problem on its hands: nobody wants to be on the blue team.

Matches in Wardogs consist of up to 100 players split across three teams. (Yes, developer Bulkhead is aware that number isn't cleanly divisible into three equal teams, but it doesn't care.) Whenever you join a match, you're asked which team you want to be on: blue, red, or green. Unfortunately, within just a few days, a clear stereotype has emerged for each of the colors, and it's having some serious effects on gameplay.

The blue team — or Lonestar, to use its official name — is viewed by anyone embedded in the community as the team for newbies, or those not particularly skilled at the game. As a result, blue practically never wins a match in Wardogs, and some games aren't even getting underway because nobody wants to join that team. Players would rather sit on the team select screen, spamming the left-click button on either red or green repeatedly, than endure the fate of playing a full match as part of the blue team.

The blue team isn't the only one with a stereotype, however. Red (Valkyra) is typically seen as the most aggressive of the three, often consisting of multiple communicative squads embarking on an all-out offensive infantry mission, but usually without much desire to actually play the objective. This results in players on the red team topping the leaderboard, but rarely winning the actual match, because points are secured by the team with the most players inside the control zone, not those with the most kills.

Green (Manticore), on the other hand, is the team for players who understand Wardogs' many mechanics and use them to their advantage. Green will regularly take control of the various towers on the map, setting up Forward Operating Bases (FOBs) and using mortars to bombard enemies, and any infantry-based players will move with the double-points-scoring hot zone across the map. Unfortunately, Wardogs doesn't currently offer much of a bonus for actually winning the game, so playing selfishly on the red team is more profitable in terms of individual cash. (Wardogs utilizes a cash-based progression system that persists across matches).

The problem is so bad that it's becoming a meme within the community. Take a look at the above clip, shared by the Bulkhead community manager on X. It's perfectly emblematic of what the blue team represents: a blue player is looking for a pilot to ferry them back into the battlefield. The first helicopter lands too quickly and destroys its rotors, then the next takes off before the player can hop aboard. The third is landing way too haphazardly, then when the player jumps into a passenger seat on the fourth available chopper, the pilot tries to roll while basically stationary, destroying the vehicle and almost killing the passengers. We then see another chopper take off, straight into the path of a friendly helicopter, obliterating it. It seems like nobody on the blue team knows how to fly.

While the above is one of the most extreme examples, you only need to play a match or two of Wardogs to experience it for yourself. I spent the weekend playing exclusively on the blue team because it was usually the only one with space available (now I know why), and we'd get steamrolled in every match. I even had one game where the green team won without red or blue earning a single point. Now I've made an effort to be on the other teams more, I'm having much more fun with the game; there's more coordination and I don't feel like a complete solo.

The devs are fully aware of what's happening (see another X post from one of the team above), as the topic is going somewhat viral on social media. On launch day, Reddit user f2ame5 commented, "me and the boys said we will only go blue to turn things around. I'm losing my mind after one day." It's even got to the point of pro-blue motivational speeches to try and turn the team's fortunes around.

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The more the blue team gets memed though, the more it becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. Wardogs is a fantastic game, but this anti-blue meta isn't enjoyable, especially when it results in some games not even getting underway. But the only current way to fix it is to stop posting memes about it, and when the posts are as funny as this, that's a tall order.

Alternatively, preventing players from choosing their own team would also fix the issue, but for that to work, the game needs a functioning party system first. As it stands, anyone wanting to play with their friends needs to find the same server in the browser, then hope there's space for multiple players available on one team. It's one of the game's most glaring technical flaws, but it will only fix the blue team problem if it's paired with automatic team selection.

A screenshot of the post-game in Wardogs with green team winning 100-0-0.

With all of the above considered, though, it may not solely be a social phenomenon causing the blue team to suck. While the spawns are relatively evenly spaced out, the blue team spawn point is somewhat sandwiched between red and green. Blue's outfits are also more distinguishable than the other two, making them slightly easier to spot and harder for them to blend into their surroundings.

There could also be something psychologically at play: is blue typically seen as a newbie color, compared to red or green? Is it because it's the first option in the list, therefore the one new players click on without thinking about it, that results in a lower skilled team across the board? Whatever the answer is, it's a frustrating problem for an otherwise excellent shooter.

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