Battalion 1944 Devs Have ‘Massive F--king Plans’ For Esports
Battalion 1944 enters closed beta this weekend, ahead of its Early Access debut next month, giving many fans their first look at Bulkhead Interactive’s upcoming WW2 shooter. We recently spoke with Joe Brammer, studio lead at Bulkhead Interactive, about what players can expect when the game hits Steam on Feb. 1. He also shared some information on the studio’s hopes for Battalion 1944’s competitive scene.
Why is now the right time for Battalion 1944? Overwatch League recently kicked off its inaugural season. CS:GO’s popularity is at an all-time high. Battlefield and Call of Duty haven’t gone anywhere. And everyone wants to claim their piece of the battle royale pie after PUBG and Fortnite each attracted tens of millions. So why go back to the foundation, when so many studios with finished games just want to squeeze a battle royale mode in somewhere?
“We saw a lot of people saying, ‘We can do 100-player battles,’” Brammer said. “There wasn’t a need to fill that. There are games doing that very well.”
Instead, Bulkhead focused its efforts on creating engaging firefights between two smaller teams, frenetic bursts of action that share more in common with early Call of Duty than Advanced Warfare or WW2. A throwback to the shooters before killstreaks and ults entered the equation. All of the default match types are designed for small teams. But the studio is willing to let players tinker alter the formula if they prefer something more... grandiose.
“People could, in theory, host 50v50 matches. We’re not going to stop them,” Brammer told Player.One. “I’m not saying it’s going to be an amazing experience you’ll want to endure. But people, if you remember, people would play 30v30 [on Shipment] just for fun.”
Server administrators will have relatively limited abilities to tinker with Battalion. Brammer says admins can alter player counts, point allocations and scoring objectives. But anything more than that will probably need to be a mod. And there won’t be any tinkering with Wartide. Given how flexible the studio is with Battalion’s other modes, we assumed Bulkhead wasn’t concerned with seeing the game at DreamHack Denver or IEM Oakland. But Brammer assured Player.One we couldn’t be more wrong.
“We have some massive fucking plans,” Brammer told Player.One.
The studio can’t discuss too many specifics yet, mostly because Battalion 1944 and its ranking system remain unfinished. But the bits Brammer can tip-toe around, which sound awfully similar to Valve’s Major and Minor events, are nothing if not ambitious. Despite Battalion ’s flexibility, the studio won’t let players tinker with Wartide, becauseB1944’s in-game leaderboards and ranking systems will determine tournament qualifiers, seasonal rankings, etc. The goal is to create a backbone for Bulkhead-run events, or those sanctioned by the company, while still providing a framework for other groups interested in hosting Battalion tournaments.
“I’m privileged to have been even approached by some of these companies and for Square Enix to have given us these opportunities. It’s kind of a dream come true,” he added. “I asked for a really small number, just like ‘Give me this money for our prize pool and we’ll make a small competitive game.’ And they gave us a big prize pool. So I’m super-excited to activate that.”
But that brings us back to the root of our original question: How do you break into a crowded marketplace with massive competition waiting in the wings? Call of Duty already has a relatively stable pro scene. Overwatch League pulled major investments from the likes of Jerry Jones and Robert Kraft. PUBG turned a South Korean publisher into a household name, and pushed its valuation into the billions, and Bluehole has already partnered with several organizations to host a few Battlegrounds tournaments. Where does Battalion 1944 fit in?
Brammer says the team doesn’t really worry about unseating the current heavy hitters. Bulkhead is aware of the big names, but the studio doesn’t need to dethrone PUBG Corp., Epic or Activision. They just want Battalion 1944 to find an audience and (best-case scenario) lay the roots for a growing competitive scene. Bulkhead doesn’t need a massive exodus from Battlefield, Battlegrounds, Fortnite BR, etc. to meet its goals. Truth be told, the industry sounds downright friendly when Brammer describes it.
“PlayerUnknown messaged us the other day and just said, ‘Great job. People in the office really want codes. Can you hook me up?’” he said. “A lot of developers used to play Call of Duty 2 and the original game. They’re all super-pumped about our game. We have people from EA and DICE saying ‘Can you get us some codes?’ They’re all really supportive of what we’re doing, which is really encouraging. We get compared toCall of Duty all the time. Which is terrifying. But also, like, my game is being compared to Call of Duty. I’ve got a shot at the title here.”