Ready or Not Soars on Steam Despite Censorship Backlash and Review Bombing
Ready or Not, the tactical shooter from VOID Interactive, is living proof that controversy can fuel success. Despite a wave of negative reviews over so-called “censorship,” the game has skyrocketed into Steam’s top sellers. If you’re curious why everyone’s talking about it, you’re in the right place.
- Game faces backlash over animation and content changes
- Developers respond to console certification requirements
- Despite criticism, Ready or Not’s player base has doubled
- Game is in Steam’s global top sellers—thanks to the drama
Why are fans upset?
VOID Interactive recently announced on Steam that Ready or Not would get updates to some animations and visuals. The reason? The studio is preparing for a big console debut on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, set for July 15. To pass the strict certification process for consoles, a few tweaks were necessary—especially around violence, gore, and nudity.
What exactly changed?
The devs say the changes are not just about censorship, but also about upgrading the game’s tech. Moving from Unreal Engine 4 to Unreal Engine 5, they wanted smoother animations and better performance, especially for upcoming cross-play features. According to lead technical artist Alex:
“We recorded 5 different special forces actors in our last big mocap shoot, the goal was to introduce a more organic and natural look while trying to get away from the standard everyone looks and moves the same in video games… We completed the graph rework and we are now dedicated to polish and further improvements using latest cutting edge technology available.”
Still, some elements did get toned down. There’s less ongoing gore—once a body is dead, it won’t keep deteriorating. Torture art is less explicit, and a couple of nude scenes got covered up. The devs insist the violence level hasn’t really dropped, but the presentation is less extreme. Alex adds:
“Ultimately, we consider this an okay compromise considering our gameplay design already dissuades use of lethal force anyway.”
The team also stressed that only the absolutely necessary changes were made to meet console requirements.
Steam review bombing—but sales are booming
None of this has stopped PC players from calling foul. The top-voted Steam review reads:
“The game wasn’t perfect initially, but now they are choosing to censor it. They made their money from you—the PC players on Steam—and now, out of sheer greed, they’re appeasing console market regulators by censoring the game to meet their demands.”
It’s just one of many angry posts, with plenty of colorful language and even ASCII middle fingers. The backlash has led to Ready or Not showing a “Mixed” recent reviews rating on Steam. Still, the controversy is turning into free marketing. Since the update was announced on June 27, the game’s active player count has doubled in just two days. And despite all the drama, it’s currently #15 on Steam’s global top sellers list—outperforming some brand-new releases.
Summer sale helps boost numbers
Ready or Not is also half off during the Steam summer sale, now at $24.99. Not dirt cheap, but not bad for a title that’s all over the headlines. The attention around the “censorship” debate may push the game to even higher peaks. If you want to see what the fuss is about, now’s a pretty good time to jump in.
Will the controversy die down? Or will Ready or Not ride this wave even further up the charts? Time will tell—but for now, it’s one of the hottest shooters around.
