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 is supposed to recreate the feel of classic tactical first-person shooters like SWAT or Rainbow Six and pack it into a police scenario.
After the release got further and further into the distance, Ready or Not will now appear out of the blue in Early Access in December 2021 – and there are a few reasons that could be a problem.
(Not) a reason to be happy?
The developers formulate their own announcementas if the early access release was happening earlier than planned. But what’s behind that? Ready or Not is now published by Team17 – it was originally financed as a crowdfunding project and this is one of the reasons for the sudden release. Campaign supporters were promised a key for the Supporters Edition – but Steam was not ready to provide additional keys until the game officially went live. In addition, the developers describe that they are “absolutely dependent on pre-order income” and will therefore go into Early Access this year.
An early access phase was planned in advance, but Such a quick shot 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 alpha gameplay was shown by streamers in April 2020, many fans were disappointed, as Ready or Not was more reminiscent of Call of Duty than SWAT.
Then the team was able to secure a partnership with Team17, who already released the hardcore shooter Hell Let Loose. Meanwhile, the voices of the alpha testers sound much more positive. So let’s hope that it can win back some of the supporters in Early Access.
We also took a closer look at Ready or Not 2019 and put together our impressions at the time in a preview:
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Ready or Not – Preview Video: Will the Dream of SWAT 5 Come True?
What supporters and buyers need to know now
Anyone who owns a Supporters Edition of Ready or Not should soon receive a beta key for the Steam library that contains all the latest patches. Buyers of the Standard Edition will get access as soon as Early Access starts in December. There is no exact date for this yet.
Incidentally, our veterans Micha and Peter talk about the pitfalls of Early Access, catastrophic and exemplary examples as well as the history of the sales model in an episode of GameStarTV:
more on the subject
Early Access 2.0: Before the release there is already a release
Are you going to try Ready or Not in Early Access? Would you have preferred to wait a few more months? Let us know in the comments!
