Wardogs CEO Under Fire: Admission of Dishonesty and Crunch Justification Spark Outrage

First a sales record, now a shitstorm: Wardogs developer Bulkhead is causing a stir in the community with two interviews within hours. After the Steam shooter surpassed the 2 million units sold mark within just five days, Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer spoke out twice – and both times with statements that are currently being fiercely debated.

What did the Wardogs CEO say about a lack of transparency?

In an interview with VGC, Brammer openly admitted that his studio had not been honest enough with expectation management surrounding Wardogs. According to VGC, he literally said that they were „not transparent and not honest” – a remarkable statement given the commercial success. The background is apparently the difficult competitive situation with Call of Duty, in which the comparatively small studio had to assert itself, and in doing so, likely juggled internal expectations that even their own team wasn't entirely comfortable with.

The admission seems almost unusually self-critical for a CEO whose game has just sold two million copies. But that's exactly what makes the statement so explosive: Anyone who admits to not having been honest beforehand, despite achieving success, automatically raises the question of what else might have been sugarcoated.

How does Bulkhead justify the crunch culture at the studio?

Just hours later, Brammer followed up in an interview with IGN – this time regarding working conditions at the British studio. According to IGN, he described crunch – meaning increased overtime during stressful development phases – as a kind of balancing act, essentially portraying Bulkhead as a place where you come to work hard. For an industry that has been grappling with a reputation for toxic working conditions for years, this is a risky choice of words.

From our perspective, the combination of both statements is particularly explosive: First, there's an admission of a lack of honesty towards one's own community, then in the next breath, a defense of a work culture that has been criticized in the industry for years – just think of similar debates surrounding other major studios in recent years. If communication regarding their own product wasn't honest, it's hard to believe assurances that crunch at Bulkhead is „controlled„.

Whether this double controversy will harm Wardogs' success remains to be seen. Currently, many players' enthusiasm for the game itself still seems to prevail – how long that will remain the case if Brammer's statements continue to circulate is another question.

Source: VGC, IGN

What do you think of the Wardogs CEO's statements? Discuss with us in the comments whether a belated admission is enough and whether crunch can ever be a legitimate „balancing act„.