Early Access in Early Access? More and more players are getting annoyed by the Supporter Edition, especially because of the hefty price tag.
In the community of the tactical SWAT shooter Ready or Not, there has been almost nothing but love and approval in the air so far. But now, shortly before the first substantial update in January 2022, the community is threatened with division. Not only in a metaphorical sense, but quite concretely.
Players are arguing about whether VOID Interactive might not be on the wrong track with the payment model. The developers are charging 36 euros for the Standard Edition in Early Access and a whopping 100 euros for the Supporter Edition. Besides a few skins and the knowledge of supporting the developers, there is something else important in the expensive package.
Players with the Supporter Edition get updates first. The developers argue that this way the patches can be tested before they are rolled out to the majority of the community.
Critics counter that Early Access is already a kind of test game. Moreover, from a technical point of view, a test branch could easily be set up for the Standard Edition on Steam. Some commentators therefore react annoyed, angry or irritated.
Waiting for bug fixes
User (IronEleven) highlights that it is annoying to have to wait longer for fixes for problems. Specifically, the person refers to the extreme reaction behaviour of the enemy AI:
This is the biggest annoyance I have with waiting for this patch in particular. It’s frustrating to know that the snapping behaviour of the suspects has been fixed. But it’s not in the branch you have access to.
Other players can’t play future content with their friends for a while because they have different editions. This also causes annoyance, as they have to roll back an extra update for multiplayer matches and can only play together on the older build.
The community is split
There is disagreement among players on whether Ready or Not should continue with early access to updates for backers only. A poll on Reddit with around 2,900 participants brought out different camps. Nevertheless, the majority was in favour of a simultaneous release of the new updates.
Question: Should new updates be released at the same time for everyone?
- Yes – 735 votes
- Yes, but as a selectable beta branch – 783 votes
- No, prefer as soft launch with 2-7 days early access – 643 votes
- No, prefer soft launch with 8-14 days early access – 444 votes
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This is what the developers say: VOID stressed (on Steam) that it is important to test updates before release for all players. This way, many bugs have already been fixed in the past. This ensures a smoother experience for all other players. VOID also wants to offer supporters something tangible in return for their financial support.
What the developers are planning for Ready or Not in 2022, you can read in the roadmap. In the release trailer you can see how the game principle of the hardcore shooter actually works:
What do you think about the situation in the RoN community? Do you support the pay model or are you bothered by it? Feel free to write us your opinion in the comments
