Ready or Not is ready again and back on Steam

Tactical shooter encounters "trademark" issues
(Image credit: Void Interactive)

The developers of Ready or Not - a tactical FPS which released in early access at the end of last year - has confirmed that the shooter has returned to Steam after being mysteriously pulled from sale earlier this week.

In a statement, Void Interactive blamed a "suggested trademark infringement" for the downtime, and apologized for the issues, hoping it "was not too inconvenient" for players.

It took two days for the studio to fully detail why the game have been taken offline in the first place. After it had been mysteriously pulled on June 16, Void Interactive finally released a statement yesterday, saying that it wanted to "address the rumors surrounding the takedown of Ready or Not".

"A takedown request was issued via Steam concerning a suggested trademark infringement in our recent Night Club map that was shared as part of our most recent Steam update," the team said. "We take IP concerns very seriously, and in a show of good faith, we have decided to remove the subject materials and any reference to them from Ready or Not and from any of our social media or other publications. 

"Ready or Not will return to the Steam store once we complete the changes," the statement continued. "We have also removed the AI update video from our YouTube channel and from our Steam Store page, and anticipate that these will be restored after an editing process is completed."

That didn't seem to take Void Interactive long as later that same day the developer tweeted again, confirming that the shooter was "once again available". 

Void didn't detail what, precisely, the trademark issue was all about, but some players who got to try the update before it was pulled have suggested it may have been because the fictional nightclub - called "Prysm" in the game - was a touch too similar to that of a UK nightclub chain of the same name (thanks, NME). 

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Vikki Blake
Weekend Reporter, 12DOVE

Vikki Blake is 12DOVE's Weekend Reporter. Vikki works tirelessly to ensure that you have something to read on the days of the week beginning with 'S', and can also be found contributing to outlets including the BBC, Eurogamer, and GameIndustry.biz. Vikki also runs a weekly games column at NME, and can be frequently found talking about Destiny 2 and Silent Hill on Twitter.