The Culling Will Roll Back To "Day One" And Be Free-To-Play, While The Culling 2 Gets The Ax

Jason Winter
By Jason Winter, News Editor Posted:
Share:

The Culling 2 had possibly the worst launch imaginable. It came out on July 10 and immediately tanked, dropping to single-digit player counts and earning a Mostly Negative review rating on Steam. We won't bother linking to its Steam page because developer Xaviant is in talks with Valve (and other digital storefronts) to remove the game and issue refunds -- and is also planning to relaunch the first Culling game as a free-to-play battle royale game.

In a YouTube video, Director of Operations Josh Van Veld admits quite bluntly that "The Culling 2 was not a game that you asked for." Despite the issues with the first game, and hostility from the players, Van Veld said that Xaviant "didn't see a path forward" and now realizes that abandoning it for The Culling 2 was a mistake.

"We realized that we changed too much, too fast, and that there was something very unique and very special about the personality of that game ... We were too eager to modify, to balance, to retune, and so we took a game that you guys loved, and we changed it out from under you, and I want to apologize for that."

The Culling will be rolled back to its "day one" state on test servers later this week. If you already own the game, you'll be able to try it out, complete with perks, airdrops, and all the other features that made it -- from what I saw in the few streams of it I watched -- an interesting twist on battle royale when the genre was still in its infancy.

Van Veld knows that getting people to come back to a two-year-old game that "failed," however, is a tall order. That's why, when testing is complete and The Culling's day one version is ready, the game will be free-to-play. There are no details on what the cash shop will look like, but Fortnite: Battle Royale has thrived with Season Passes and cosmetics, so we'd anticipate something similar.

Will you be getting into (or getting back into) The Culling?

Share:
Got a news tip? Contact us directly here!

In this article: The Culling, Xaviant.

About the Author

Jason Winter
Jason Winter, News Editor
Jason Winter is a veteran gaming journalist, he brings a wide range of experience to MMOBomb, including two years with Beckett Media where he served as the editor of the leading gaming magazine Massive Online Gamer. He has also written professionally for several gaming websites.

Discussion (3)

The House Always Wins 5 years ago
Damn. Usually studios would rather die than admit they were wrong (*cough*Bosskey*cough*). Good on them. I always heard that the first iteration of the Culling was great while the later versions were... not so great, so it's good to see the devs owning up to their mistakes and fixing their game. I'll give it a try once it comes out f2p.

Jafarson 5 years ago
I think ppl will give one last chance to this game, hope it will be good. Go F2P was right decision.

Deathloche 5 years ago
WOW.


Read Next

Free-To-Play Permadeath MMO Survived By Enters Closed Beta

Free-To-Play Permadeath MMO Survived By Enters Closed Beta

Today, Human Head Studios' free-to-play, bullet-hell, MMO (complete with permadeath) Survived By enters Closed beta testing.

By QuintLyn Bowers - 5 years ago

You May Enjoy

Titanfall 2’s Multiplayer Is Back, And So Are Players, As An Unexpected Fix Hits Servers

Titanfall 2’s Multiplayer Is Back, And So Are Players, As An Unexpected Fix Hits Servers

A surprise update has it working properly.

By QuintLyn Bowers - 5 days ago
Ubisoft Montreal Implements New Partial Return-To-The-Office Policy For Employees

Ubisoft Montreal Implements New Partial Return-To-The-Office Policy For Employees

This decision contradicts the company's earlier stance, when it expressed a desire for a hybrid working model.

By Matthew D'Onofrio - 5 days ago
TGS 2023: Bethesda Announces The Elder Scrolls Online Coming To Consoles In Japan And Fallout 76 Getting Two Part Update

TGS 2023: Bethesda Announces The Elder Scrolls Online Coming To Consoles In Japan And Fallout 76 Getting Two Part Update

Japanese players can look forward to fully localized ESO.

By Troy Blackburn - 2 days ago
The First Descendent Open Beta First Impressions: Is This The Destiny/Warframe Killer?

💣 Feature | The First Descendent Open Beta First Impressions: Is This The Destiny/Warframe Killer?

It's really fun, but really repetitive.

By Matthew D'Onofrio - 3 days ago
Leaks Were True: New Character Coming To SMITE: Mage Assassin Maman Brigitte

Leaks Were True: New Character Coming To SMITE: Mage Assassin Maman Brigitte

She excels in the jungle with her damage-over-time abilities.

By Matthew D'Onofrio - 4 days ago
Go Back To School With The Lost Ark Mokoko Kindergarten Ark Pass

Go Back To School With The Lost Ark Mokoko Kindergarten Ark Pass

It arrives tomorrow, September 20th.

By Troy Blackburn - 4 days ago