The mid-match free team-switching feature in the multiplayer military shooter "War Dogs" is being abused by some players. After switching to the enemy faction, some sabotage base facilities from within, scout deployments, or even attack their own teammates. Executive Producer Joe Brammer confirmed that the team is working on design-level fixes.
"War Dogs" supports up to 100 players battling on large maps across three factions. Players can earn in-game funds by killing enemies, assisting teammates, and destroying objectives, while also building and defending forward operating bases. These bases require walls, gates, defensive structures, and stockpiles of resources like ammunition.
The game currently allows players to switch factions at any time during a match. Some players exploit this by joining the opposing team, walking into heavily fortified bases to destroy walls and defenses, and helping their original teammates capture objectives. Others use team-switching to scout enemy positions and relay real-time intelligence, or even attack teammates as they spawn.
Some players reported that their team built barriers around a vehicle used for quick movement, only for enemy members to switch teams and start dismantling the walls, forcing the defenders to attack these new teammates. Since the game currently lacks a vote-kick feature, teams facing such behavior struggle to deal with it quickly. Some matches can last over an hour, amplifying the impact of these disruptive actions.
Free team switching was originally intended to let friends join the same faction without modern lobby or party systems: players would join a friend's server and then attempt to switch to their team. However, this convenience has also opened the door to cheating and harassment.
In response to player complaints on September 13, Brammer stated that the team is currently deciding on specific design fixes. The development team also confirmed on the Steam roadmap that future updates will adjust the faction-switching feature, though details and release timing have not yet been announced.
Since its release earlier this month, "War Dogs" recorded over 400,000 concurrent PC players on SteamDB. Developer Bulkhead recently confirmed that the game has sold 2 million copies. Players can still switch teams freely during matches, with related restrictions awaiting future updates.