Wardogs CEO says he won’t hire devs who think crunch shouldn’t exist

Wardogs studio CEO Joe Brammer has revealed that job applicants who post anti-crunch messaging on social media often don't make it through Bulkhead's hiring process.

Bulkhead boss explains its hiring stance on crunch critics

Joe Brammer, who is also Wardogs' executive producer, told The Game Business's Christopher Dring that his studio checks the social media accounts of job applicants, and that people who post anti-crunch messaging often don't make it in the door.

During their interview, he said: "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. 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’."

https://youtu.be/EX6MWC71y38?t=1964 Timestamp: ~32:45

In this defense, Brammer said crunch happens at Bulkhead despite the studio's efforts to avoid it, and that he doesn't hide that from people considering working there.

"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," but then went on to explain that "if we're going to be a company that says 'We do crunch,' then you have to get something for it."

On that front, the Game Business reports that employees who hold shares in Bulkhead receive bonuses when a game like Wardogs succeeds, and Brammer said that payout could be significant enough to help junior developers toward a house deposit. He also clarified that "not everyone gets a bonus, but when people do, they get a meaningful bonus."

The same report notes that the studio has made layoffs every year for the past half-decade. As Brammer put it, "for the last 5 years we have made redundancies every single year… this will be the first year we haven't done it."

Notably, Bulkhead was named one of the UK's Best Places to Work by GamesIndustry.biz in 2023 and 2024.

They're not the game studio dealing with crunch, as a GTA 6 insider said employees were working until 3am back in May 2026.