Wardogs’ CEO says that if you’ve complained about crunch in the past, you have no business at his company

The Game Business has interviewed Joe Brammer, CEO of Bulkhead, after Wardogs sold 2 million copies in five days since its launch in early access on September 10. What would’ve otherwise been a friendly chat that would’ve helped increase the game’s visibility and sales, has turned into a viral interview because of Brammer’s controversial opinions on his labor practices, bordering on exploitation.

Better than avoiding crunch: doing it without complaining

Claiming that “a lot of people who may have issues with ‘crunch’ —rightly so, I understand the issue, we always try to avoid it, but we don’t hide that it’s going to happen at some point— often don’t even get hired”. He doubled down on his statements by saying that “we want to be known for that: this is a place you come to work hard. If you care about the work you’re doing and the result of what you create here, you’ll feel truly valued. If not, you’ll feel like a slave”.

As if that weren’t enough, he said that “we check people’s social media, and if you’re constantly tweeting messages against ‘crunch’: ‘This should never exist’, we know and say: ‘Look, you’re not going to be happy here, so we’re not going to hire you‘”. This makes it clear that they are aware of their bad labor practices and how proud they are of them.

This has generated tremendous controversy on social media, given that in recent years there has been growing awareness of the harms of crunch, or unpaid overtime, within the video game industry. This could very well affect the popularity of Wardogs or of Bulkhead’s future games.