In an interview with Chris Dring on The Game Business, Bulkhead CEO and Wardogs executive producer Joe Brammer made a statement about crunch culture at the studio. It was subsequently reported on by Game Developer, and later picked up by other outlets such as PC Gamer and IGN. In response, Brammer has addressed the “out of context articles” by laying out the “facts” in a post on X. See below:
Having only been out on Steam for a week, Wardogs is one of 2026’s runaway multiplayer shooter success stories. To date, it’s sold more than two million copies, and is topping Steam charts, despite still being in early access.
In his post, Brammer explains that he didn’t say crunch is “mandatory,” and that “80% of the shares in Bulkhead are owned by 50% of the staff.” Additionally, according to Brammer, half of Wardogs‘ development was completed with a four-day working week, and the entire studio will be given the month of December off. “This is the other side of the honesty and transparency we have been commended for,” he said.
Crunch, broadly defined as extended periods of overtime, is of course a serious issue within the gaming industry, with numerous reports over the years of studios enforcing a “crunch culture.” This often involves working long hours that cause burnout and low morale as studios rush to finish a game ahead of a deadline. One recent example is with Grand Theft Auto 6, where Rockstar employees were fighting for better working conditions, highlighting crunch as one major issue, amid others.
Having listened to the full 40-minute interview between Dring and Brammer, it’s a much more nuanced conversation and complex discussion than isolated quotes can convey; if you have the time, I’d encourage you to listen to the full thing. The Bulkhead CEO goes into detail about topics such as the shift in crunch perception between the generations of employees at the studio, their struggles to offer the “correct” amount of paternity leave to new fathers, and how bonuses are shared throughout the company.
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Regarding Bulkhead’s transparency, he isn’t wrong. Brammer, along with other senior members of the development team, often post on social media to talk about what’s working and what’s not with Wardogs. For players who have really taken to the game and embedded themselves within the community, it’s a refreshing approach. Speaking so candidly means there’s more for the public to analyze, however, especially when the game is as popular as this.
Another example of this openness was with the studio’s “10 reasons not to buy Wardogs” video, which included things like the game not receiving regular content drops; the fact one of the studio’s previous games, Battalion 1944, was abandoned during development; and that monetization will eventually come to the game, albeit much later down the line.
In the interview, Brammer says that he “expects people to crunch,” but in turn, it’s compensated accordingly, both fiscally and in time off to recover from burnout. “If we’re going to be a company that says ‘we do crunch,’ then we also have to say ‘but you get something for it.'”
