The multiplayer shooter War Dogs has recently seen a peculiar team selection phenomenon: many players are eager to join the Green Manticore and Red Valkyrie factions, but deliberately avoid the Blue Lone Star faction. As a result, some servers struggle to reach the required player count to start, with matches delayed by approximately ten minutes.
Before a match begins, the Green and Red factions are already full, while the Blue faction still has many open slots, with over ten players lingering in the team selection screen. Some players repeatedly attempt to join the Red or Green teams, explicitly stating their refusal to join the Blue Team.
This impression began forming during War Dogs' closed beta and has persisted since the game's launch. Popular community posts have dubbed team selection "the battle before the battle," with some players even renaming the three factions by difficulty: Green as "Easy," Red as "Normal," and Blue as "Nightmare Mode."
The development team has also taken notice of Lone Star's reputation. After seeing a screenshot of a Lone Star victory, BULKHEAD co-founder Howard Phillpott posted on social media, "Lone Star actually did it." Currently, this perception remains largely a community joke involving both players and developers, but some players are genuinely avoiding the Blue Team.
Reddit user PogoMarimo recalled that some servers with over 80 players would stall after around 40 players had chosen their factions, as the remaining players refused to pick the Blue Team, leaving the server unable to meet the minimum player requirement for nearly ten minutes. Having already joined the Blue Team twice that day, he chose to keep waiting as well.
There are various unconfirmed theories within the community regarding Lone Star's poor performance. Some believe the blue pants and insignia are more conspicuous in forest environments, while others attribute the issue to the faction headquarters' location: Lone Star starts from the southernmost point of the map, potentially making them more vulnerable to opponents from both the east and west.
Another explanation is that Lone Star's negative reputation is becoming self-reinforcing. Players may avoid the Blue Team due to a single loss or community feedback, potentially causing the faction to attract less experienced members. However, War Dogs reshuffles teams each match, all three factions start with equal resources, and there is currently no data confirming a consistent disadvantage for Lone Star.