Recently, the failed battle royale game The Culling announced that it would be returning, though it faced immediate criticism upon revealing that the game featured what can be described, at best, as a predatory monetization system, equally as egregious as some mobile games. One of The Culling's developers has since revealed more information about the new system, changes that are being made, and why the developers feel it's necessary.
Xaviant Director of Operations Josh Van Veld opened up about The Culling's new monetization system in an interview with PC Gamer, shedding a bit more light on the situation. Originally, players — even those that had already purchased the game — were allowed one free match a day, and would then have to purchase tokens to play, or buy a pass. The one game limit was raised to ten after fan outcry, though many are still unhappy with the restriction.
According to Van Veld, the team was "kind of terrified of everybody coming back, overloading the servers, costing us a ton of money and not spending anything," which caused issues the first time that The Culling relaunched as a free-to-play title. In that case, the game had "onboarded a million players very quickly," which Van Veld described as "overwhelming in some ways." The situation led to the team rapidly losing money.
Van Veld went on to explain that upset players likely considered themselves "long-term" users, which the monetization system isn't designed around. Xaviant's goal is no longer to have The Culling become a huge game, as the developer tried that and was unable to make a sustainable product. Instead, the developer seems to want enough players to keep matches full, and to keep things sustainable.
Xaviant may tweak The Culling's payment system, but it won't be changed entirely — which seems like an overwhelmingly bad decision. It's true, The Culling — and developer Xaviant — is stuck between a rock and a hard place. Without a reliable and consistent source of income, the game is almost certain to shut down again, as it has multiple times in the past, with The Culling 2 being a particular point of contention.
However, any restrictions on playtime, especially for the players that purchased the game originally, are bound to be seen as a slap in the face by many, as The Culling's pay-per-match system is simply a bad idea. With other, unrestricted battle royale games out there, it's hard to see an avenue where The Culling makes a comeback, at least as things stand.
The Culling is undergoing changes.
Source: PC Gamer