Wardogs CEO Says Bulkhead May Not Hire People Criticizing Crunch Online
The game hit 2 million copies sold in less than a week.
Wardogs's development studio Bulkhead's CEO Joe Brammer shared his thoughts about working crunch, saying thay the studio doesn't "hide that this is going to happen at some point."
In the most recent episode of The Game Business, the CEO said that such intensive work is inevitable at some point despite attempts to avoid it and that he wants the studio to be known as "a place you come to work hard":
"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," Brammer 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."
Apart from this, Brammer shared that the studio checks people's social media, and and may choose not to work with people who publicly express non-acceptance of crunch:
"We check people's socials, and if you're constantly tweeting anti-crunch messaging: 'This should never ever be a thing', we know that and go, 'Look, you're not going to be happy here, so we're not going to go with you'."
Bulkhead
Bulkhead CEO noted that employees get a financial reward for their hard work. Not all Bulkhead employees own shares or receive bonuses, according to The Game Business, but those who do receive a meaningful financial benefit.
"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.' We want people to know that those people who do work hard get that return, and it is life-changing."
Wardogs is a warfare FPS that launched on September 10 in early access on Steam. On its first day, the game surpassed 1 million copies sold, causing the servers to go down – a success that followed the game's closed beta drawing about 500,000 players in August. Currently, in less than a week after launch, Wardogs already reached a sales milestone of 2 million copies.
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