With the French publisher Ubisoft still all in on Rainbow Six: Siege, a sense of nostalgia for the PS3 series Rainbow Six: Vegas has been brewing for quite some time now. First released on PC and now out today on PS5, Ready or Not looks to fill that space.

The hardcore, intense shooter makes you a SWAT commander, as you breach and clear strongholds and rescue any of the hostages that might be inside. It's playable alone or in co-op, and after developing a strong community that loves the game on PC, Void Interactive is looking to make a similar splash on consoles.

We caught up with art director Mark Ronson to learn more about Ready or Not, which is out now on PS5 for £39.99 / $49.99.

Push Square: To start, please could you introduce yourself and Ready or Not? How would you pitch the game in a sentence or two?

Mark Ranson: I am Mark Ranson, the Art Director at VOID Interactive, focusing on the character, environmental, 2D, and visual tone and mood of Ready or Not meets to our quality standard.

In Ready or Not, you assume the role of the LSPD SWAT commander where you and your team will respond to this growing threat across missions involving active bomb threats, barricaded suspects, hostage situations, and more. Every officer is expected to follow the rules of engagement regardless of the offenses committed — that is the weight of responsibility, the weight of the badge.

What weapons and gear do you recommend for beginners on PS5 to choose to start with?

The gear in which you as the player choose to take into the mission is entirely up to your own best judgement of what the situation might require, and from a player perspective, what gear you wish to try out and use.

Ready or Not has all of its weapons and gear available from the jump and its purely down to the player to choose which they feel is best, whether they want to run a longer rifle which has harder stopping power but might struggle in narrow spaces, or perhaps a fully none lethal pepper ball gun to safely deal with suspects. This is an entirely personal preference, and each mission provides its own challenges that will impact which gear you should think about taking into hostile environments.

Has the enemy AI been adjusted at all to accommodate for PS5 players using a controller?

The experience of Ready or Not, and, in particular, the discussion around our AI antagonists, has remained pure to the vision for both console and PC players alike. We continue to strive to have that level of challenging engagement regardless of the platform and emphasis was focused on making the gamepad as intuitive as we can as a natural transition away from the mouse and keyboard.

The tactical pacing of Ready or Not lends itself well in PlayStation and Xbox environments seamlessly, where having a mouse is not strictly an advantage, and one would go so far as to say the controller support has its own advantages. So really depends on player preference but no, we have not adjusted the AI to accommodate the hardware.

In a game designed around realism, it's possible for players to only pull the trigger a handful of times in any single mission. How do you design and balance a game where one of its core features — the shooting — might only be used a few times compared to a standard FPS?

It certainly has its nuances compared to a lot of other shooters where the standard formula is very much “if it moves, shoot it”. Ready or not actively discourages this behaviour, it is your job as a trained SWAT officer to only resort to violence when the situation absolutely calls for it based on R.O.E (rules of engagement).

With that, we had to pay close attention to other areas where our gameplay would be exciting and engaging for the player such as those tense moments, like when you are in a standoff with someone who may or may not pull a gun and you have a split second to decide, when breaching and clearing rooms, or when checking for traps and balancing lethal and less lethal options for the player.

Given that every bullet is potentially a life-or-death situation for the player and the AI, there is a lot of consideration for the design in spaces around direct combat and more importantly, how the player is moving through these spaces where around every corner danger could lurk. Our job was to create a tense and foreboding atmosphere and a gameplay style that encourages a slower, methodical, more cautious playstyle, whilst maintaining a very high sense of adrenaline when chaos does unfold and you are in direct engagement with a suspect.

Are there plans to add a PvP mode at all?

We are always keen to explore options to scale and grow Ready or Not and hear from our fans on what they would like to see be incorporated or brought into the game down the road. PvP is something that is always a possibility in the future.

Since the full PC launch in December 2023, the game has managed to sustain a healthy and committed player base. While the focus is on single player and co-op missions, it's going for a similar vibe as Rainbow Six: Siege. Despite competition from such a popular game, what do you think has worked for Ready or Not in cultivating a big and enthusiastic community?

I think what worked for Ready or Not is that we filled a gap in gameplay and aesthetic stylings against the shift with Rainbow Six: Siege that is chasing fast-paced and lighter-toned FPS gaming audiences. A better comparison for Ready or Not would be to its predecessor Rainbow Six: Vegas or SWAT 4.

In Ready or Not we strive for a dark rich narrative, modern gameplay mechanics, and style that doesn’t hold the player's hand. This raw experience is something that a lot of games have moved slightly away from, allowing us to really shine in that market to tell the stories that we wish to tell.

How do you handle the push and pull between your vision for the game and what the player base is asking for, if it differs from your aspirations?

As part of game development, it is always important to be true to yourselves as creatives however the reality is we do not live in a vacuum, and whilst creating these experiences your audience always must be considered in every decision you make. It is always a balancing act between the needs of our audience and the vision of our game.

I should say that for the most part we believe that our audience has been very much on the same page and often they align, which allows for forward progress towards those ideals. When they depart from each other it's always looking at what those needs of the audience are, the significance, and if we can look to incorporate some changes that fit our audience's needs and our vision for Ready or Not.

How has the porting process to consoles been? Will you be taking advantage of any PS5-specific features like haptic feedback and adaptive triggers?

Porting for console is always a challenge, no matter what game or studio you are. There is a lot of considerations and reworks that need to be taken into account, such as dedicated controller support and the translation between the player and the UI experience.

However, we have absolutely taken full advantage of the modern console hardware to bring an even more engaging experience. With Ready or Not, this is true with haptic and adaptive triggers, which can create an even more immersive experience for an FPS title and perhaps more so with a realistic SWAT FPS like Ready or Not.

Now the console ports are out, what's next? Is VOID Interactive looking to double down on Ready or Not with support from the entire studio, or are you exploring new projects for the future?

We will continue to support Ready or Not in a post-release environment as we look towards our growing fanbase now across both PC and console platforms. As part of the Ready or Not: Digital Deluxe Edition, we’ve already hinted at additional DLC content that is planned in post-release. We haven’t given much in the way of details on it as of yet but should be expected for 2026.

What's the one thing about Ready or Not that excites you the most, but doesn't get the attention it deserves?

I would not strictly say this is an aspect that does not get attention per se. Ready or Not has incredible fans that have encompassed and covered many of the experience as a whole, so it would be hard for me to pinpoint something specific that has been over looked.

However, what excites me the most, and always has, is those hand-crafted experiences that we as developers create where the player feels something really deep down from playing Ready or Not. This varies from that sense of fear and tension, carefully taking each slow step towards the unknown on the other side of the door, or coming across a scene which is unsettling and makes the player uncomfortable to be around.

There is a certain joy that comes from seeing the player experience the chaos of a surprise gun fight erupt, the spike of adrenaline, and the inevitable hollow stillness and quiet that comes after the storm and they struggle to catch their breath.

It's really those and many more moments I enjoy watching and that excite me when seeing folks play Ready or Not. And it really was our goal to create these moments for the player, so it always feels good when I see people experiencing these and enjoying them – even more so that on console, we have the potential for a whole new audience to experience these moments for the first time.

Why should the Push Square community be excited to play Ready or Not?

Ready or Not already comes with a thriving community since our Early Access and 1.0 release on PC. Console audiences have the rare benefit of stepping into a game on Day 1 and already being greeted by a fervent player base who are just as excited. With cross play there aren’t any limitations to interactions amongst the community and setting up games together.

Meanwhile, the narrative of Ready or Not is rich and contemplative, that it will definitely be an exceptional first-time playthrough, with the added benefit of the massive replayability associated with every mission.

We would like to thank Mark Ronson for answering all of our questions, and James Haseltine for making the interview possible. Ready or Not releases today, 15th July 2025, on PS5 for £39.99 / $49.99. Will you be checking the game out? Let us know in the comments below.