Battle Royale Game The Culling Is Shutting Down In May

Battle royale game The Culling will be shutting its doors for good this May, as it appears to have been culled from the Battle Royale genre's battle royale.


Published: March 20, 2019 10:19 AM /

By:


the culling

Battle royale game The Culling will be shutting its doors for good this May, as it appears to have been culled from the Battle Royale genre's battle royale.

Developer Xaviant is citing a lack of revenue as its primary reason for closing the game down. In a blog post on The Culling's official website, Xaviant says that it was hoping revenue generated from in-app purchases after going free-to-play would sustain the game's development. This turned out not to be the case and Xaviant had to reduce team size, leading to an inability to provide the support and updates the developer believes are necessary to sustain the game. Xaviant is also looking for studios to take the reins for The Culling, so if you think that's you - or you know someone who wants to - then email Xaviant here over at info@xaviant.com.

The Culling was originally launched back in March 2016. The game quickly became a Steam top seller, but it's player numbers dwindled in the wake of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Epic Games' Fortnite. Xaviant decided to halt development on the original game so it could work on a new project, which turned out to be a sequel named The Culling 2. Upon release in 2018, said sequel was widely criticized by players for its more-than-passing semblance to PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, as well as its general rushed feel and release timing (a new season of Fortnite started on The Culling 2's release day).

Player numbers for The Culling 2 were massively unsatisfactory, causing Xaviant to pull the second title from sale and refocus their efforts on the original The Culling. Now titled The Culling: Origins, the first Culling was reworked as a free-to-play game with microtransactions as the primary source of revenue. As we've seen from Xaviant's decision, the revenue - and player numbers - were simply not enough to sustain the game.

If you're a huge The Culling fan, then don't worry - the offline modes for the game will remain active. Multiplayer for the game will shut down on May 15th.

Have a tip, or want to point out something we missed? Leave a Comment or e-mail us at tips@techraptor.net


Joe Allen's profile picture
| Senior Writer

Joe has been writing for TechRaptor for five years, and in those five years has learned a lot about the gaming industry and its foibles. He’s originally an… More about Joseph