XIII was negatively received by players and press upon launch, with criticism going towards the remake's unnecessary changes from the original, such as the art style and the weapon limit, as well as the game's numerous technical and audio issues. Developer PlayMagic and publisher Microids issued a joint statement apologizing to players for the state of the game at release, adding that the COVID-19 pandemic had significantly affected the game's production. On Steam, the game received an Overwhelmingly Negative rating from players.[8] The release of the remake caused an increase in sales of the original game, causing the 2003 game to outsell the remake in the first week of the remake's release in the UK.[9]