Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer laid out the studio's hiring filter in plain terms during a The Game Business interview: applicants who post anti-crunch takes on social media often get screened out before they reach the door. Wardogs hit early access September 10 and cleared 2 million sales in its first weekend despite launch queues and a review-bomb on Steam, yet Brammer framed the policy as cultural fit rather than denial of reality. Crunch happens at the studio, he said, even when they try to avoid it, and the trade-off is supposed to be meaningful bonuses tied to success, including share ownership that has paid out enough for some juniors to put down house deposits. The studio has run annual redundancies for five straight years until this one, and it earned UK Best Places to Work recognition from GamesIndustry.biz in 2023 and 2024. Brammer later clarified to Eurogamer and others that crunch is not mandatory, that one documented beta push was optional, and that social media checks fall under UK data protection rules, but the original comments still drew the predictable backlash about screening out anyone who expects labor standards.