Bulkhead Interactive plans to gradually increase the price of War Dogs during its Steam Early Access period. The game is currently priced at $39.99, and its price will be raised in stages as new content is added and development continues.
Joe Brammer, head of Bulkhead, said that according to the current plan, War Dogs will advance to version 0.5 in about 12 months, at which point the price will rise to $49.99. A year later, the price will increase further to $59.99.
The studio views $39.99 as the minimum price for the initial stage of development, hoping to reflect changes in the game's scale and content volume through differentiated pricing. In other words, players can buy in at a lower price when there is less content, or wait until the version is more substantial before making a decision, but they will need to pay a higher price at that time.
Brammer stated that if players feel the current price is too high, they can wait for War Dogs to continue development before purchasing. In the studio's vision, as the project scales up, its price should increase accordingly.
He also linked this pricing strategy to development costs, stating that War Dogs sits between indie and AA games. As a large-scale first-person shooter, its graphics and physics effects require significant resource investment.
Brammer acknowledged that raising the price before the 1.0 release might cause dissatisfaction among some players, but Bulkhead believes this model is necessary for long-term project support. Under the current plan, War Dogs will gradually increase from $39.99 to $49.99 and then $59.99 during Early Access.