‘Copaganda’ shooter developers apologize despite rave reviews

As the SWAT simulator ‘Ready or Not’ continues to grow in popularity, VOID Interactive has issued a statement apologizing for supposed wrongdoings and seemingly caving in to the criticisms of leftist gaming magazine Kotaku.

Released at the end of last year as part of the ‘Early Access’ program on Steam, the tactical first-person shooter has managed to quickly amass quite a following with ‘very positive’ (94% positive at the time of writing) user score based on over 24 thousand reviews. Many praise the game as a “breath of fresh air” and a “worthy successor to the SWAT game series.”

Before ‘Ready or Not’ went live on the Steam platform, Kotaku published a damning preview, calling out the developers for including supposedly “inappropriate references” within the game’s assets, such as a “Redpill” box with “Noggin Joggers” written on top, a box of vitamins branded “Bonor Health,” and a store called “Whore Foods.” The article summarized the game as “a violent political fantasy with no capacity for self-interrogation.” 

While many gamers saw the review as simply a bad take from an overly liberal publication, the developers seem to have taken the article close to heart and followed up by releasing a statement justifying and apologizing for their choices, promising to remove the “offensive” assets in the coming updates.

VOID began the statement with the obligatory reiteration that the company had no tolerance for bigotry, racism or alt-right views. The message went on to explain the inclusion of the “offensive” assets, saying it was done by a contractor that was no longer working with the company.

The developers say they were “not aware of any hateful connotations” with the assets and have promised to take steps to remove them in the next update.

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Despite essentially caving in to Kotaku’s demands, the statement by VOID also mentions the bad press it had previously received from Kotaku, particularly an article in which the journal conflated the mutually agreed split between VOID and publisher Team17, supposedly over the inclusion of a level set during a school shooting, which was also seen as extremely problematic by the outlet.

However, none of these issues seem to have in any way impacted the sales of the game, and seem to only serve as a deterrent for some players who see the developers as having bent the knee to progressive game journalists. In fact, some of the negative comments, of which there aren’t many, have little to do with the game itself and seem to be a reaction to VOID’s latest statement in response to accusations of “problematic” content.