Wardogs Developer Checks Applicants' Steam Hours Before Hiring

Bulkhead, the studio behind the tactical shooter Wardogs, reportedly checks applicants' Steam accounts to see how much time they actually spend playing FPS games. The hiring practice was discussed by Bulkhead boss Joe Brammer and senior producer Kane Allard in an interview, shortly after Wardogs launched in Steam Early Access on September 10.

According to Brammer, applicants are expected to list their Steam hours when applying, because the studio wants its team to be made up of genuine FPS players. Allard added that every candidate's Steam profile is checked to confirm they are passionate about the genre.

I like to think that if you're an FPS fan, we're trying to do right by that audience, and we're one of the good guys to support. We won't always get it right, but we like people to know where their money is going and what type of studio it's going into, andsomeone that they feel they can share values with. So, I think, that's kind of where the core of Bulkhead is. We are FPS players. You know, when you apply to Bulkhead, you have to put the Steam hours

Brammer stressed that playing other types of games doesn't make someone a worse developer. The point is that people working on an FPS should understand the details of the genre and its audience. He compared it to being asked to make a JRPG himself: "You wouldn't let me go and make Final Fantasy."

Wardogs, published by Team17, became one of the biggest launches on Steam this year. On its first day in Early Access, the game reached 337,157 concurrent players according to SteamDB, and the online count later grew to 428,666. For comparison, the second beta test during the first weekend of September peaked at around 245,000 players. Sales were just as strong: Bulkhead announced 1.25 million copies sold on launch day, and by September 15 the studio reported over 2 million.