Joe Brammer’s Case for Higher Game Prices—and Its Unanswered Question

Bulkhead CEO and WARDOGS executive producer Joe Brammer argues that rising development costs have made games too cheap. In comments reported on September 24, 2026, he pointed to Grand Theft Auto VI as a missed chance for a major release to make higher prices more acceptable across the industry.37

Why compare WARDOGS with a train ticket?

Brammer said he had paid £30 for a one-way train journey, while WARDOGS cost £36.99 in the UK—a difference of £6.99.1214 His point is about perceived value: if a single trip costs nearly as much as a game, he believes buyers may be undervaluing what games cost to make.

The comparison has limits. A train fare and a game meet different needs, and their relative prices reveal neither what players can afford nor what WARDOGS must earn to sustain its development.

Why bring GTA VI and Tim Schafer into it?

Brammer’s criticism of Rockstar is about precedent. He argues that GTA VI had the prominence to raise expectations for what a major game could cost, making it easier for other studios to charge more. Reporting on his comments frames that ambition against a market that has moved from $60 to $70 for major releases and has begun testing $80 standard editions. The provided sources do not independently establish an official GTA VI price, so its price should not be treated as settled here.3612

His response also followed Double Fine founder Tim Schafer’s questions about why layoffs and restructuring persist in an industry where games make money. Schafer has raised the possibility of executive greed; Brammer’s counterargument is that the gap between development costs and sale prices deserves more attention. That is Brammer’s explanation, not proof that pricing is the sole cause of the industry’s difficulties.21742

Bulkhead is applying a version of that thinking to its own game: it plans to increase WARDOGS’ price as the early-access game gains content, with Brammer presenting the approach as a way to support continued development.14

Would more expensive games prevent layoffs?

The stakes are visible in Xbox’s restructuring. Microsoft confirmed that Double Fine returned to its management as an independent studio, while reporting says Schafer described the studio as unprofitable under Xbox despite not setting out to make games it expected to lose money.3837 Reporting also describes substantial Xbox job cuts.1740

None of that establishes that a higher game price would have saved those jobs. Charging more could increase revenue per copy, but it could also deter purchases—particularly for games without a blockbuster’s audience. Brammer identifies a potential cost–price mismatch; whether raising prices would leave studios better off remains an open question.