--- title: "They wouldn't look at any game that was less than £50... description: Bulkhead Interactive CEO Joe Brammer recounts the studio's journey from indie roots through Square Enix and Tencent ownership to independence. Under Tencent... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/they-wouldn-t-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencent-s-all-in-strategy-didn-t-gr2ylxfqt twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: "They wouldn't look at any game that was less than £50 million" Why Tencent's all-in strategy didn't suit Bulkhead | daily.dev og:description: Bulkhead Interactive CEO Joe Brammer recounts the studio's journey from indie roots through Square Enix and Tencent ownership to independence. Under Tencent... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/they-wouldn-t-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencent-s-all-in-strategy-didn-t-gr2ylxfqt og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gR2YLxfQt.png og:image:alt: "They wouldn't look at any game that was less than £50 million" Why Tencent's all-in strategy didn't suit Bulkhead og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # "They wouldn't look at any game that was less than £50 million" Why Tencent's all-in strategy didn't suit Bulkhead **[GamesIndustry.biz](https://daily.dev/sources/gamesindustry)** · 11 min read · 10 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Bulkhead Interactive CEO Joe Brammer recounts the studio's journey from indie roots through Square Enix and Tencent ownership to independence. Under Tencent via Splash Damage, Bulkhead found itself pressured to scale beyond its means — Tencent wanted games with £50M+ budgets, while Bulkhead's FPS Wardogs was budgeted at £10-12M. The mismatch led to friction, with Tencent suspicious of the studio spending only half its allocated budget. Facing closure in late 2024, Brammer took the unusual step of telling all staff immediately, resulting in high morale and loyalty. The studio ultimately spun out under a new holding company, Super Media Group, backed by Team17's parent Everplay and Hiro Capital, with nearly 50% of staff owning equity. Now independent, Bulkhead is redefining success as sustaining a modest player base rather than chasing blockbuster numbers, with Wardogs heading to Early Access in 2026. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Tencent sells Battalion maker Bulkhead to newly-formed consortium backed by Team 17 owner](https://daily.dev/posts/tencent-sells-battalion-maker-bulkhead-to-newly-formed-consortium-backed-by-team-17-owner-lq2uqx187) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Splash Damage breaks away from Tencent](https://daily.dev/posts/splash-damage-breaks-away-from-tencent-fw1v0h7ho) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Why Hiro are bullish on UK and EU game dev funding after helping The Chinese Room and Bulkhead go independent](https://daily.dev/posts/why-hiro-are-bullish-on-uk-and-eu-game-dev-funding-after-helping-the-chinese-room-and-bulkhead-go-in-c0oh8ckqk) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Splash Damage places entire studio into consultation ahead of redundancies](https://daily.dev/posts/splash-damage-places-entire-studio-into-consultation-ahead-of-redundancies-sd09gqbee) · GamesIndustry.biz · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#gaming](https://daily.dev/tags/gaming) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/they-wouldn-t-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencent-s-all-in-strategy-didn-t-gr2ylxfqt) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"\"They wouldn't look at any game that was less than £50 million\" Why Tencent's all-in strategy didn't suit Bulkhead","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/they-wouldn-t-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencent-s-all-in-strategy-didn-t-gr2ylxfqt","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/they-wouldn-t-look-at-any-game-that-was-less-than-50-million-why-tencent-s-all-in-strategy-didn-t-gr2ylxfqt"},"datePublished":"2026-03-25T14:01:10.392Z","dateModified":"2026-03-25T14:01:54.813Z","description":"Bulkhead Interactive CEO Joe Brammer recounts the studio's journey from indie roots through Square Enix and Tencent ownership to independence. 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