Wardogs’ first week wasn’t just about topping Steam’s bestseller chart — it was about how far ahead of the pack it got there. A new analysis from games-industry data firm Alinea Analytics puts a dollar figure on Bulkhead’s tactical shooter for the first time, and the number reframes what’s already been a startling Early Access launch: roughly $70 million in revenue in its first seven days, enough to rank as the seventh-highest-earning new Steam release of 2026 and to out-earn Bungie’s Marathon across every platform it’s shipped on, combined.

The figure behind the chart position

Wardogs has held Steam’s No. 1 bestseller spot since its September 10 Early Access launch, and prior coverage tracked that success in copies sold — more than 2 million within five days. Alinea’s report, published September 16 by analyst Rhys Elliott, puts the week-one tally at roughly 2.2 million units and layers revenue on top for the first time: around $70 million banked in seven days, a figure Alinea ranks seventh among every new game that has launched on Steam in 2026, AAA releases included.

Beating Arc Raiders and Helldivers 2 at the same stage

The report’s comparative numbers are what make the launch look less like a fluke. Measured at the same point in their respective launch windows, Wardogs’ roughly 2.2 million copies outpace Arc Raiders’ 1.7 million and Helldivers 2’s roughly 1 million — two of the closest recent comparisons in the extraction-shooter and co-op live-service space, and both games that went on to become genuine hits in their own right. Helldivers 2 alone has since sold more than 12 million copies total, so beating its opening pace by more than double is a high bar to clear in a genre where day-one numbers are usually treated as noise until a game proves it can hold players past launch weekend.

Out-earning Marathon, all platforms combined

The comparison Alinea leads with, though, is Marathon. Bungie’s extraction shooter launched to a muted reception earlier this year, a stumble Sony’s own leadership has since described as a “one-two punch” alongside Destiny 2’s decline — a rockiness that preceded Bungie cutting 292 staff in June after Sony recorded a $765 million impairment tied to the studio. Alinea’s analysis finds that Wardogs’ week-one Steam revenue alone exceeds everything Marathon has generated across all of its platforms since it shipped. For a 100-person British studio that pitched the game to Tencent at roughly £10-12 million before Tencent walked away, out-earning a AAA shooter backed by one of gaming’s biggest platform holders is the starkest evidence yet that Wardogs’ launch wasn’t a fluke of timing.

Why the wishlist math checks out

Alinea’s report also explains where the buyers came from. Wardogs entered Early Access with roughly 1.8 million Steam wishlists and converted about 11% of them into purchases within the first week — more than double the roughly 5% conversion rate Alinea says is typical for AAA launches. Part of that comes down to price: Wardogs launched at $40, well under the $70 mark Alinea identifies as a friction point where AAA pricing starts to cost publishers sales. Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer has framed the game’s design philosophy in similarly unconventional terms, telling press that “Wardogs is closer to Meccha Chameleon than it is to Call of Duty” — a comparison to a niche cult favorite rather than the genre’s usual blockbuster benchmarks.

The takeaway

Big first-week numbers are common enough that they rarely settle an argument on their own. What Alinea’s analysis adds is a revenue figure that puts Wardogs in the same conversation as platform-backed AAA shooters, not just other Early Access breakouts — and a wishlist-conversion rate that suggests the studio’s low price point and grassroots marketing outperformed the traditional AAA playbook rather than just riding a lucky launch week. Whether that holds once the new-release bump fades is the question Bulkhead now has to answer with its console versions still two years out.

For how Wardogs got here, read our coverage of Wardogs crossing 2 million copies in five days and the server crunch that came with it. For the AAA side of this comparison, see our report on Sony’s live-service strategy and Marathon’s rocky launch.