School Shooting Level in Ready or Not Sparks Controversy; Devs Respond
Despite the controversy, the creators of Ready or Not aren't won't abandon their plans to add a level, in which players will have to stop a school shooting.
The tactical shooter Ready or Not turned out to be one of the most successful December launches on Steam. The game got off to a great start in Early Access and is considered to be a worthy successor of the SWAT series. Now, however, a big controversy spawned around this game. All because of a planned game level, the action of which will take place during a school shooting.
Such subject matter is very sensitive in the U.S., so it is not a special surprise that the plans caused such a reaction. The school level was mentioned already during the game's announcement, but few people paid attention to it at that time. Now, however, the success of Ready or Not in Early Access has made the game appear on many radars. On Reddit one of the players asked if this mission is still in the plans. The developers responded (in a now deleted post) that yes, and all hell broke loose.
The situation aggravated by the fact that a few days after this answer was given, it was announced that Team 17 will no longer be the game's publisher. Kotaku published an article, in which it was suggested that the reason for breaking the cooperation was the controversial level. However, this was an overinterpretation and Void Interactive confirmed that the reasons for the separation of the two companies were different.
In response to the controversy, the devs have issued a statement, in which they informed that they respect critical voices, but ultimately the priority for them is to stay true to their artistic vision. Ready or Not is supposed to be a realistic game that tackles difficult subjects. School shootings are a sad part of American reality and the developers intend to convey the gravity of these tragedies in the game.
The controversy has definitely not hurt the game's popularity. Four days ago Ready of Not set a new activity record of 14,900 players on Steam. Yesterday, at the hottest moment of the day, 14,620 people played the title simultaneously, so there's a good chance that the game's record will be broken this weekend,
Ready of Not is not only very popular, but the people playing it are delighted with the title. On Steam, as many as 98% of user reviews are positive, which the site categorizes as "overwhelmingly positive reception."
