- WARDOGS CEO Joe Brammer has fired back at the “mandatory crunch” backlash over his candid comments on workplace crunch.
- Brammer responded on X, saying, “No information says mandatory; they made this up,” and clarified that he never used "mandatory.”
- He further clarified that Bulkhead worked a four-day week for 50% of development and that the entire WARDOGS team will have December off.
WARDOGS CEO Joe Brammer has pushed back against news outlets for taking his interview with The Game Business out of context, portraying him as someone who endorses mandatory crunch at Bulkhead.
After WARDOGS entered Steam Early Access last week, the tactical FPS received massive success, only for the CEO to face scrutiny for his comments on crunch. Brammer took to X to clarify his statements on “mandatory crunch”, saying, “No information says mandatory; they made this up.”
He added, “80% of the shares in Bulkhead are owned by 50% of the staff. For 50% of development, we ran a 4-DAY WORK WEEK. We gave everyone the entire month of December off. We made a game you like, and our staff will be rewarded for it accordingly.”
The WARDOGS CEO directed his response at PC Gamer’s report on his interview with The Game Business, which quoted Brammer’s following statement: “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’.”
His candid comments about workplace crunch may be controversial, but he never actually mentions “mandatory crunch.” Here’s what he actually said:
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,” added the WARDOGS CEO.
Brammer discussed pushing WARDOGS’ console release to 2028 to give the developers who have spent the past three months working on the game some time to recharge. He also said the entire company will take December off as a reward for the game’s successful launch.
