School shooting level controversy leaves Ready or Not without publisher

Void Interactive, the developers behind the tactical shooter Ready or Not, have announced that they are parting ways with publisher Team17 just a day after they revealed a school shooting setting was going to be used as the basis for a campaign level.

The announcement was made by Void via social media this past 20th December. In a tweet, the devs explained that both parties "have mutually agreed that Team17 will no longer publish Ready or Not."

"We thank Team17 for their partnership and wish them great success with their spectrum of games," the developers added.

VOID Interactive and Team17 have mutually agreed that Team17 will no longer publish Ready or Not. We are confident that this is the right path for the future of Ready or Not, and we thank Team17 for their partnership and wish them great success with their spectrum of games!

— VOID Interactive (@VOIDInteractive) December 20, 2021

School shooting level controversy leaves Ready or Not without publisher

On 19th December, a developer at Void Interactive responded to a Reddit thread asking if Ready or Not would feature a school shooting level in its single-player campaign. "You better believe it's gonna," they admitted.

Neither Void nor Team17 directly addressed the school shooting polemic as the reason for their "mutual agreed" split, however, the timing of said announcement has fans pointing at the decision to go ahead with the level as the main reason for Ready or Not losing its publisher. 

The topic is naturally a highly controversial one, particularly in North America, as in the United States, there have been 28 school shootings that have resulted in injuries or deaths just in 2021 alone. 

Depicting such a scenario in a video game can come across as insensitive, according to some, while defenders of Ready or Not's dev team mention that it's an inescapable reality and the creators shouldn't compromise their vision for the tactical shooter.

Ready or Not is currently available via Early Access on Steam, having just released this 17th December.

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Featured image courtesy of Void Interactive.