Joe Brammer, the CEO of Wardogs developer Bulkhead, has stated that the studio avoids hiring people who aren’t willing to crunch.
In an interview with The Game Business, Brammer was asked about the studio’s approach to crunch. He noted that he values balance, but not in the way people may think. Instead of traditional work weeks, the team will push harder for a handful of months, but then have the opportunity to take their foot off the gas without fear of retaliation.
“For the last three months, Wardogs has been a lot more important than a lot of their family lives,” said Brammer. “It has been, because that’s what pays the money for them. But now Bulkhead has to acknowledge that it needs to go the other way. For example, everyone is pushing us to get console out earlier.
“We’ve just said, ‘No, you don’t understand, that’s not how it’s going to work. We can’t push them more. We’re not doing that. It’s going to release in 2028 when we say it’s going to release.’ So, for me it’s about balance and helping people and making sure they have a company where they can say, ‘I’m tapping out,’ and not feel like they’re going to get fired for tapping out.”
Brammer went on to note that it has become harder to crunch due to the team getting older and trying to start families. He stated that they initially offered 10-week paternity leave, but eventually had to ditch it because the employees’ partners were struggling to handle them going back to work. Instead, Bulkhead now offers 2-weeks of paternity leave and gives half-days to employees as a way of making the transition easier for the families.
Brammer also stated that they don’t hire people who actively speak out against crunch in the industry on social media, as he believes they won’t be a good fit for Bulkhead.
“A lot of people who may have an issue with crunch — rightly so, I understand that issue, we always try and avoid it, but we don’t hide that this is going to happen at some point — they often don’t make it in the door,” he says. “We want to be known for that: this is a place you come to work hard. If you care about the work you’re making and the result of what you make here, you’ll feel really valued. If you don’t, you will feel slave-driven.”
Brammer’s belief that the team must crunch has prompted Bulkhead to create incentives for developers. The team dishes out a “meaningful amount” in bonuses and shares in the company to select employees, though not everyone is eligible.
“If we’re going to be a company who says, ‘we do crunch’, then we have to also say, ‘but you get something for it,'” he said. “We want people to know that those people who do work hard get that return, and it is life-changing.”
Wardogs has already sold a whopping 2 million copies in less than a week, meaning those incentivized employees are probably (hopefully) being justly compensated. The game is sitting near the top of Steam’s most played games chart and is continuing to grow as word of mouth spreads. As noted by Brammer, Wardogs is also coming to consoles in 2028, and the team is going to take its sweet time getting there.