The Culling 2 Gets Murdered By The Worst Launch Of All Time (VIDEO)
The battle royale genre has become one of the most popular gaming experiences in modern times, with free-to-play titles like Fortnite and PUBG rocketing to the top of the top-downloaded charts. Widespread appreciation for competitive mode has even influenced AAA names such as Battlefield and Call of Duty into adopting their own versions of the mass-murdering match type. However strong the current hype surrounding battle royale, the recent release of The Culling 2 was not subject to the same love, as the sequel managed to have one of the worst launches of all time.
“Worst of all time” is a phrase often overused to oblivion these days, but the words could very much apply in the case of The Culling 2. Not only does the game suffer from extremely poor sales, but the Steam community is also feeling particularly unkind towards the online shooter. Accusations of mediocre gameplay, “sell-out” mechanics, and an unappealing presentation are peppered throughout the title’s “Very Negative” review score, but that isn’t exactly surprising to former fans of The Culling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u1IkXm3r5jA
Failure for a follow-up to gather traction isn’t new in the gaming world, but given the first Culling essentially debuted today’s battle royale craze, this new entry is very much a steep fall from grace. The original game conversely enjoyed a healthy popularity back when it debuted in 2016, peaking with an impressive 12,995 concurrent users. However, as The Culling inspired the rise of its most notable competitors, the melee-focused experience would slowly lose public goodwill through numerous gameplay-altering updates, resulting in something fans were hard-pressed to recognize, let alone play.
An unenthusiastic user base mixed with the availability of more popular (and free) alternatives would seem to doom The Culling 2 from the start, and that’s pretty much exactly what happened. Steam data for the sequel indicates that the July 10th launch was worse than anyone could’ve thought, with just 249 players logging in at the moment of release. Over the next few hours, the miniscule amount of players would drop off even further, with only single-digits remaining by the end of the day.
— The Culling: Origins (@TheCullingGame) July 13, 2018
For perspective, most battle royale games require at least 50 players to establish a full match, a literal impossibility for The Culling 2 only a few hours after going live. This means the dozens of player logins over the past week have been met with empty multiplayer lobbies, rendering the experience completely unplayable. Even when compared to other so-called “failures” in recent years, the game still presents an abysmal outcome for such a once-beloved name. For example, Lawbreakers enjoyed a 7500-player launch despite being largely overshadowed by Overwatch, and still manages to maintain a small, but dedicated fanbase to this day.
The same cannot be said about The Culling 2 only six days past its debut, a real shame when this could have been a prime opportunity to course-correct concerns from the first outing. Instead, the latest title from developer Xavient has essentially disappeared from public consciousness, leaving the studio a brand new game with nothing to show for it. Xavient has yet to address what this launch will mean for the studio’s future, but they confirm that some “soul-searching” will need to take place before “admittedly difficult decisions” are to be made.
It’s time for us here at Xaviant to come together for some much needed soul searching and to have some admittedly difficult discussions about the future of our studio.
We’ll talk soon.
— Xaviant (@Xaviant) July 12, 2018
What do you think? Are you surprised that The Culling 2 bombed so badly in its first week, or did the game have it coming after alienating its core users for so long? Let us know in the comments below and be sure to follow Don’t Feed the Gamers on Twitter and Facebook to be informed of the latest gaming and entertainment news 24 hours a day! For more from the realm of battle royale, check out these next few news stories:
Eric Hall2712 Posts
Phone-browsing Wikipedia in one hand and clutching his trusty controller in the other, the legendary Eric Hall spreads his wealth of knowledge as a writer for Don't Feed the Gamers. Be sure to catch his biweekly "Throwback Thursday" segment for a nostalgic look at trivia from the past.
