WARDOGS dev wants to be known for crunch

Game developer Bulkhead just recently launched its tactical FPS WARDOGS. Now, it’s come out that its CEO, Joe Brammer, wants the studio to be known for not hiding that crunch time happens in game development. The studio’s CEO understands peoples’ problem with crunch and the studio does its best to avoid it.

During an interview with Game Developer, the studio head expressed how he wants the studio to be known for being somewhere “you come to work hard” and “care about the work you’re making.” Basically, to us, it sounds like he wants people to see the necessary evil crunch often plays.

“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. 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.”

Bulkhead does offer incentives when crunch occurs, though, so it tries not to make it a “thankless job.”

In case crunch has flown over your head, crunch is basically intense overtime often seen in the weeks or months leading to a game’s release, if done improperly, which it often is, can lead to entirely shattering any sense of work-life balance workers had prior to beginning crunch.

Gabriel Stanford-Reisinger | Editor-in-Chief

Gabe has been a gamer since he was young, playing games like Pajama Sam, Freddi Fish, Guitar Hero, and whatever looked cool on GameFly. Ever since 2018, he’s been infatuated with the inner workings of the gaming and entertainment industries, covering a wide range of topics from video games to film and TV.