Battle royale shooters are currently among the trending games! Many developers want a piece of this lucrative pie. However, the development of The Culling (PC, Xbox One) is now coming to an end. This might be due to the hit game PUBG.
The Culling had considerable success. It was among the top sellers on Steam in 2016 and was also popular on Twitch. From the over 4,500 players simultaneously active in March 2016, only 13 (!) are left now.
What happened? PUBG. PUBG has completely transformed the genre, just as World of Warcraft did with MMORPGs back in 2004. PUBG struck a chord with players, who flocked to this title – leaving other genre contenders behind. Such as The Culling.
Out of Early Access and into the End
Since October of this year, The Culling is no longer in Early Access. It has officially launched. And while many developers hope to attract many more players after the end of the Early Access phase, The Culling shows well that this isn’t always the case.
The developers subtly admit that they have been beaten by PUBG. The market for battle royale games has changed.
However, the developers do not want to give up completely. They are now focusing on a new game, about which they do not want to reveal anything yet. The support for The Culling will be discontinued. There will be no more updates. However, the team plans to keep the servers online for the foreseeable future.
The Beginning of the Battle Royale End?
The developers thank everyone who accompanied them during the development of The Culling. It is not an easy farewell, but the team is now fully focusing on the next game.
Are we seeing the beginning of the bursting of the battle royale bubble? This should certainly be a warning to other studios. Just because you are in the battle royale genre does not automatically mean you are running a successful game.
Already at the official launch of The Culling, the player numbers were catastrophically low.
