The SWAT heir Ready or Not suddenly appears in Early Access after four years. But there’s a catch.
The tactical shooter Ready or Not hit the bull’s eye for many shooter fans when it was announced four and a half years ago: It was supposed to bring back the gameplay of classic tactical ergoshooters like SWAT or Rainbow Six and wrap it in a police scenario.
However, after the release became more and more distant, Ready or Not is now appearing out of the blue in Early Access in December 2021 – and that has a few reasons that could become a problem.
(No) reason for joy?
The developers themselves formulate their announcement as if the Early Access release would take place earlier than planned. But what is behind this? Ready or Not is now published by Team17 – was originally financed as a crowdfunding project and this is also one of the reasons for the sudden release. Backers of the campaign were promised a key for the Supporters Edition – but Steam was not willing to provide further keys until the game officially went live. In addition, the developers describe that they are “absolutely dependent on pre-order revenue” and are therefore going into Early Access later this year.
While an Early Access phase was planned beforehand, such a quick fix can also backfire. If Ready or Not is in an unfinished state and still has too many problems, it could already collect negative reviews before its full release – and thus depress sales of the final version. When the first gameplay of the alpha was shown by streamers in April 2020, many fans were disappointed because Ready or Not was more reminiscent of Call of Duty than SWAT.
Afterwards, however, the team was able to secure a partnership with Team17, who already released the hardcore shooter Hell Let Loose. In the meantime, the voices of the alpha testers sound much more positive. So let’s hope that it can win back some of its supporters in Early Access.
What backers and buyers need to know now
Those who own a Supporters Edition of Ready or Not should soon receive a beta key to the Steam library that includes all the latest patches. Buyers of the Standard Edition will get access as soon as Early Access starts in December. An exact date for this has not yet been announced.
Will you try Ready or Not in Early Access? Would you rather have waited a few more months? Let us know in the comments!
