Bulkhead Interactive has removed a controversial bonus intended to incentivize players to join the Blue team in Wardogs, just one day after the launch of Season 2. The developer admitted to "fucking up" with the plan, which provided bonuses to Blue team players in an effort to balance the in-game factions.
The Incentive and Its Immediate Impact
The bonus, announced last week, included a "Lonestar cash and XP bonus" for the Blue team, effective for Season 2 only. According to Bulkhead CEO Joe Brammer, the goal was to "help the win rate of a certain team." However, the initiative proved far more successful than anticipated. Brammer stated that the Blue team is now winning "by far, the most," despite the boosts being relatively small: a 5% Lonestar cash increase and a 2.5% XP increase. While these percentages did not significantly benefit average players, Bulkhead observed that "top tier" players experienced substantial gains.
The consequence of this imbalance extended beyond in-game rewards. Howard Philpott, co-founder of Bulkhead, noted that the bonus was "impacting people joining games and starting games," suggesting that players were leaving matches if they couldn't join the favored Blue team.
Developer Admission and Future Changes
"We were wrong. We fucked up," Brammer conceded in a recent video. The bonus has been officially removed, with Bulkhead acknowledging that the outcome was more extreme than they had predicted. "I don't think we expected it to be this much of a swing," Philpott added.
Despite this misstep, Brammer characterized the bonus as an "experiment" and indicated that other changes introduced with Season 2 have been effective. These include new spawns on the Bakurani map, which will remain in the game. Alongside the removal of the Blue team bonus, Bulkhead is also addressing driver progression issues and a related exploit that allowed players to access tanks prematurely. A small number of players found to be exploiting this issue will face a 24-hour ban and have their in-game currency and experience wiped.
PC Gamer's own Morgan Park had predicted the outcome, stating last week that "XP and cash bribes are a drastic move, but should have a real impact. It's unclear how big these boosts will be, but I expect Blue will instantly become the most popular team by a wide margin in Season 2." The rapid reversal by Bulkhead suggests a swift recognition of the unintended consequences of their balancing attempt.