WARDOGS Developer Responds to Reports Regarding Crunch Controversy

WARDOGS has become a Steam sales leader, surpassing 2 million copies sold. Following an interview with Bulkhead head Joe Brammer, a controversy erupted around the game due to publications that he called manipulative.

In an interview with The Game Business, Brammer stated that he expects employees to work hard and allows for crunch, which he warned candidates about during the hiring stage.

Critical articles about the studio followed. Brammer claims that PC Gamer attributed words to him that were not in the interview. In response, he wrote on X:

The head of Bulkhead listed the facts: 80% of the studio’s shares belong to half of the employees, the team worked four days a week for half of the production time, and employees took the entire month of December off.

He also urged people to watch the full interview and not take his words out of context. Previously, the studio experienced difficulties finding a publisher: Tencent backed out of the contract, after which about 20% of the staff was laid off. Ultimately, Team17 took on publishing WARDOGS.