Wardogs’ $40 Early Access price tag to rise to $60 at launch as CEO doubles down: “If you don’t agree, please don’t buy it”

Despite arriving in early access on Steam, Wardogs has achieved the impossible, even with its steep $40 price tag. However, Bulkhead's outspoken CEO and the game’s executive producer is adamant about adjusting the price as the game reaches key developmental milestones during its early-access period.

A price that is expected to scale upwards?

Speaking to GamesRadar+ at Gamescom, Joe Brammer laid out Wardogs' entire monetization system. He explained that the game will adopt “scaling pricing.” Currently, Wardogs sells for $40, but after the game reaches v0.5, the price will rise to $49.99.

However, that’s not the end of the story, as after the game goes gold with v1.0 of the final build, Wardogs will cost $59.99, i.e., in 24 months. Explaining the reasoning behind this, Brammer bluntly stated:

“If you don’t want it now, wait for there to be more content, more stuff, and buy it later. You want to buy it cheap now? That’s fine too. But really, we just think it’s fair to scale the price as the game becomes bigger and bigger and bigger.”

According to Brammer, Bulkhead sits on the fine line between indie and AA, and he knows no one really knows what that means. However, Wardog's success shows it isn’t just an FPS game. He continued:

“Our thing is like, ‘Look, we control our salaries, and we don’t want to blow them out of the water or anything. This game costs a lot to make. If you want to play a cheaper FPS, you can go and play a cheaper FPS. That’s absolutely fine. But this is what our game is worth. Our game is worth this, and if you don’t agree, please don’t buy it.’”

Not the first time this has been stated

This wasn’t a one-off interview incident either. Brammer also took to his X account and made a statement when other news outlets started discussing the scaling monetization:

“This isn’t news? Also, you guys have my DMs. It’ll be raised to 49.99 in September next year. No secrets here, guys.”

At the end of the day, Brammer and Bulkhead’s philosophy regarding Wardogs is: “It’s a big FPS game that costs money to make—the end.” He also took an interesting stance on GTA VI's pricing, saying it might have been underpriced in a way that hurt the industry in the long term. Whether that philosophy involves bringing the game to Valve consoles and hardware such as the Steam Deck or Steam Machine, however, remains to be seen.