Joe Brammer, the CEO of WARDOGS’ developer, Bulkhead Studios, has spoken exclusively to Edge Magazine about the road ahead in the first-person shooter space. He has announced that the team at Bulkhead will be taking a much-deserved break lasting the entirety of December, allowing them to cool off after months of painstaking work to bring WARDOGS to market.
This might leave some fans dismayed, but the outspoken CEO didn’t mince words and stated outright that they should go and play Grand Theft Auto 6 instead while the team goes on a detox.
WARDOGS Development Halts During December
Bulkhead Studios is preparing to down tools for a one-month break during December, and in a recent interview with Edge Magazine, the firm’s CEO explained why.
Everyone has done something that’s not in their job description. Everyone wears multiple hats, because they can see the path to success with the product.
We’re going to make sure players know they can f*** off in December.
Go play GTA 6; we need to detox.
Even though he’s aware that the team will return to a mountain of complaints and bug reports in January, they’re still parting ways for the month of December, downing tools and stepping back from WARDOGS.
WARDOGS dropped into early access in September, a move that proved to be a shrewd one, allowing for Bulkhead to further fund and develop a wider roadmap (which isn’t actually a roadmap) and move towards 1.0. It has been a rampant success thus far, and WARDOGS has weathered some difficulties to become one of the best-selling first-person shooters in recent years.
It might sound concerning that WARDOGS development is halting for December, though.
Last year, Embark Studios took a lengthy break over the festive period after spending months bringing ARC Raiders online. The game stagnated over the Christmas and New Year window, issues mounted, cheaters ran wild, and it prompted a massive downturn in the sentiment surrounding the game.
Ultimately, Embark Studios returned in January and fully recognized the dire situation they’d created for themselves, forcing them to play catch-up and address the huge concerns that had surfaced while they were all out of the office.
That too was a well-deserved break to detox, but it left the game in a very dangerous position, and it’s one that ARC Raiders arguably never recovered from.
Do you think Bulkhead is making the right move by cutting ties for an entire month? Let us know your thoughts on the Insider Gaming Discord server.
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Grant has been gaming for 30+ years and in the industry for 10+. You'll probably find him playing a post-apocalyptic game or an extraction shooter somewhere.
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