A few days ago, the tactical military game Ready or Not lost its publisher, Team17, supposedly due to controversial content. This did not prevent him from finding himself at the top of sales on Steam.
Around Christmas, Void Interactive has announced that it has broken its contract, by mutual agreement, with the publisher of the tactical game Ready or Not, Team 17. A few days later, multiple sites revealed that there could be an issue with the content in the game.
Indeed, this worthy heir to the SWAT license proposes to play as an elite team responsible for cleaning up vast levels, in order to secure a scene, to handcuff terrorists (killings are strongly discouraged in the gameplay) and to free hostages. On Reddit, a user put this decision in relation to the words of a developer who confirmed the availability in the final version of the game of a mission with a shootout in a school, which would have made Team 17 very cautious.
But Void cut short the rumors a few days later and declared, concerning this level (which is not here in the early access version that we tested):
There is no easy way to approach this question without eliciting strong emotional reactions from one group or another. […] We strive to promote a level of authenticity and realism in Ready or Not, which involves difficult topics. We understand that this requires a certain responsibility to our fans and our community, but also to those who have been touched by the traumatic events to which law enforcement responds too often. […] This is a look at an uncomfortable reality that has become too mainstream and we hope we can play a small part in honoring those who have been touched by these everyday tragedies with a portrayal that does not trivialize their experiences.
The press release indicates that the studio will therefore continue to follow its line of conduct. A line which indeed promotes a strong realism and which finally allows to have a very realistic tactical assault game, after several sluggish years in the field. On PC Gamer, a spokesperson adds that Team17’s decision has no connection with the presence of this level. To discover two hours of gameplay in video, you can watch this stream broadcast last night:
In the meantime, the game has found itself to Steam Top Sellers for the week ending January 2, 2022.
