The Culling Makes Embarrassing Return With Horrendous Pay-Per-Match Monetization Scheme

so let's talk about the calling one of the most infamous disgraced video games I've ever seen it's a battle royale franchise that started off pretty well had some strong legs and there was a loyal community behind it until the developers tarnished all of that so a brief history the calling was announced back in February 3rd 2016 with the following trailer and you can see just from the likes to dislikes ratio that people liked what they saw and this is one of the first battle Royales I believe this came even before pub G and fortnight and people generally enjoyed this experience but then after the game launched on early access a lot of people just didn't like the patches that came out for it it had a pretty good start with 12,000 players but over time the player base dwindled quite a bit until we got to you know that double digits and we see a resurgence here and there but for the most part you can see that the players just kind of moved away from the game after a series of bad decisions in terms of how they changed the game and some of the updates that they made the reeds right here fans of the culling were very disappointed when it came out of early access in October 2017 and got two whole months of support before xavie and stopped development entirely and moved on to a sequel no one was asking for is really the best way to summarize this they abandoned the first game without really bolstering it without fixing the mess that they had made and so fans were pretty upset when they found out about the culling - it reads right here the calling - is out tomorrow and fans are not amused this is from July 9th 2018 and you can find the trailer for that right here here's GameSpot posting this and you can see from the likes - dislikes ratio just how unamused people were by this game and matters were made worse by the fact that the culling - was more of a ripoff of existing sort of battle royale titles at this time like pub she was getting popular and it felt like they were trying to replicate the popular battle Royales rather than building upon the unique that they had established with calling one and so people just absolutely hated this you know was technically just really flawed just wofully unpolished the game just kind of looks like garbage it doesn't look like much effort was really put into it and so when the game came out not a lot of people played it you can read right here only a hundred and fifty four reviews were posted for this title and the reviews are at very negative so undesired was this title that there was really not a lot of players even at launch day was extremely difficult to find a game with a decent amount of players and here is an article from July 13 2018 that talks about how the calling twos battle royale flop forces difficult discussions about future of the developer just two active users in the last 24 hours this is just a few days after calling to launch there were just better battle Royales out there at this point in time and the initial fan base of the calling kind of moved on after how tarnished the calling became both the first game as well as the undesired sequel and so the calling to eventually shut down on July 18th 2018 it was announced that the calling to you would be no more the game just went completely offline they issued refunds and that's because nobody was playing the game there was just no point in keeping this game online and so just like that only a week after the calling two's launch the title was kaput and that brings us to this message from xavie --nt in which the Director of Operations Josh van velde apologized for how they handle the calling too promising to go back to the calling one and fixing that game people seem to think that he had good intentions and so the likes two dislikes ratio here is generally pretty positive people seem to optimistic about the future of the calling but then as the months went by interest for that game dwindled with other battle reals rising and so on March 18th 2019 it was announced that the calling would be going offline in mid-may so the very first calling title was also kind of killed off unceremoniously and nobody's missing this franchise and so this is where we stood until the culling made a return so here is a tweet posted on May 12th 2020 it reads right here the calling is back and here's a gif that sort of celebratory in nature as if to suggest that people are cheering for this disgraced franchise's return nobody really cared but the way this franchise made a return it is perhaps the most embarrassing return the most embarrassing revival I've ever seen and for is avian to believe that this is the way to do it and for them to believe that this is something to cheer at that they will be met with applause it's um you know you would think this is some kind of out of season April Fool's joke but I guarantee you it is not they're deadly serious when they say too long didn't read version servers live Thursday May 14th Xbox one now PC later so it's only out on Xbox one for now big performance enhancements not FTP so are free to play but if you ever played it you have it $5.99 on Xbox Store if you never played it one free online match per day additional tokens options available here's the trailer for the callings return for those who haven't seen it yet you can see that this trailer has been disliked to hell and there's a good reason for that aside from the fact that the game still kind of looks like dock [ __ ] there's the monetization model that they've introduced with this title which is it's something it's something you you know you think that companies like EA and Activision and all these greedy companies have kind of reached the apex of ridiculous monetization schemes but oh no here comes avian to challenge all of that with this monetization system right here here's the statement provided via press release to various outlets the calling is one of the pioneers of the battle royale Jean run even today it stands alone as a unique up-close-and-personal combat experience we get messages every day from players who want the calling to come back and for the last several months we have been working to make that happen really every day people begging for the calling to return hmm press X to doubt our new approach focuses on sustainability we've optimized our systems to keep server costs low and we have shifted our monetization approach to ensure that players will be able to visit the island for years to come oh no no this game is dead in the water there is no years to come there's no future with the calling origins as this revival is being called it's dead in the water because of your just piss-poor decisions surrounding all this and the utter greed and audacity surrounding this release if you scroll down we have a bullet point list of things that they added to the game so let's check this out players can play one free online match each day players can play additional matches through the following means winning an online match grants an online match token packs of online match tokens can be purchased three tokens equals $0.99 ten tokens equals three dollars 20 tokens equals five dollars online passes providing unlimited online play can be purchased for seven days $1.99 or 30 days $5.99 so what's going on here ladies and gentlemen is that on top of that initial $5.99 entry fee you have to pay in order to even gain access to this game on top of that you've got a pay to play system that forces you to purchase tokens so you have to spend in order to play additional matches after that initial free one it's basically like putting quarters at an arcade and you can get another free match if you win your previous match but guess what the chances of that are pretty miniscule given that this is a battle royale and there's only one survivor in every match so at it's very core this is very much a pay-to-play game there is a fee to just enter matches essentially it's not even pay to win where you get to play the game it's just the chances of you winning our low unless you spend money in order to enhance your abilities and the like it's not even that you don't even gain access to the game unless you pay and then a secondary option is what is essentially a subscription model 7-day access is two dollars and a 30 day access pass is six dollars they expect people to pay six dollars every month in order to play this garbage even if this were free-to-play this system would be insulting but the fact that you even have to pay that initial $5.99 that initial six dollars fee to gain access to the ability to pay to play this is the kind of thing you'd expect people to joke about except ladies and gentlemen this is reality this is a real monetization scheme for a video game that was already disgraced this is house avyon believes they'll win back the hearts and minds of people who were disillusioned at the direction the calling took let's read the additional bullet points the game no longer includes premium items or charges for crates players can level up earn crates and unlock air drops through offline play so they're saying hey all that other monetization we did all that's gone except the system you've introduced is far worse than that at least if you do you know loot boxes with cosmetics you still have access to a core game what's locked away is the rewards in an egregious manner but with the case of this calling origins the entire game is locked away it's pay walled behind a per token fee or sort of this subscription model fee again even pay to win is better than this because with pay to win you get to play something a longer version of all of this information can be found on xavius official website with the headline it's back like anybody wanted this this guy's just sort of patting himself on the back under the delusion that people are just craving for the next calling experience and right here you can read everything you need to know about the information that I just went through and here's a link to a video in which the director of operations himself Josh van Velde addresses the community talking about how happy he is to see the calling returned and explaining everything I just detailed unsurprisingly the likes to dislikes ratio seen here is pretty freakin abysmal 456 likes to 21,000 dislikes and scrolling down here you can read some of the comments including there were some big hurdles in our way yeah now there's just one steep cliff you guys were asking for us to bring back the calling me know we have a payment plan $5.99 a month me know we'll see you on the island me go to hell etc etc ei write that down write that down is this guy high or something he looks like kind of out there this situation would be so much more sane if this guy were actually high but he actually came up with this entire monetization scheme in sound mind and body he is literally just delusional in believing that this is the way to revive a disgraced title you're not the clown bruh you are the whole goddamn circus they got balls I'll give him that not only did they make this video they still haven't disabled the comments or ratings on this video etc etc you get the idea people are not happy at all about Josh Vande Velde insulting sort of presentation of this new calling game believing that anyone will fall for this con now Josh claims in this blog post as well as in his video that basically reads this blog post line by line that the determining factor for this monetization scheme was the expenses surrounding running this game so it reads right here we want to tell you that it wasn't a simple matter of turning it back on there were some big hurdles standing in our way running a free-to-play online game can be expensive the bigger your player count the more you spend on servers and back-end services when the Xbox version went free-to-play we brought on a million players in just a couple months you have to a working monetization scheme to pay for everything I love how he calls it a monetization scheme which I guess is the appropriate name to give this he's not even trying to hide the fact that this is very much a scheme rather than a fair business model the culling didn't have that we do want to say that we really appreciate everyone who did spend money on the game when it was free-to-play your support is what kept it running for as long as it did the bottom line was that our approach of selling crates and cosmetics just wasn't working well enough and couldn't sustain the game long term we knew that if we were going to bring the game back to life we'd have to make some big changes to our model do you the big issue with the calling is that it didn't have any players because you guys kept messing up the game and watched the goodwill surrounding that franchise that had a good start before your updates for the first calling game ruined the game and then you try to copy other more popular battle Royales with a worse version via calling - you messed everything up you lost your players and that's the reason your game wasn't making money the fact of the matter is that you don't need a monetization scheme in order to keep a game alive you need players who are willing to support you and give you money via a fair business model and transaction whether it be through just a direct purchase or through a micro transaction system that feels fair and that doesn't feel like it's constantly nickel and diming you like it's constantly gouging you if this business model is fair and if the game is good and if you you know show respect your community guess what the money will flow in that's what you don't have you don't have respect for the community you don't have a good business model and you don't have a good game a game that keeps up with the times you don't have a compelling Battle Royale experience that people would want to play instead of all the other stuff out there have you thought about maybe oh I don't know making a good game that people are happy with is that such a crazy concept and look I'm not saying that games aren't expensive to make or that online games aren't expensive to run but guess what many similar games face the same challenges and they find ways to over come that without having players pay for every match that they play online or pay a monthly fee for a game that doesn't justify that kind of price point with how low the quality bar is you have to convince people that your game is worth the money and the calling I'm sorry to say does not meet that bar you're putting such a heavy focus on how do we monetize the game rather than how do we make the best game possible to bring in players that should be the focus the mindset the fact that you're prioritizing monetization speaks volumes about your priorities and why this game is failing and why it will fail plenty of news outlets are equally baffled with headlines like the calling us back with a ridiculously greedy monetization scheme the culling is coming back with an absurd business model the calling us back and makes you pay to play more than one match per day battle royale game the calling returns with a ridiculous new business model the calling origins has weird one free match per day restriction the calling rises from the dead a second time with new paper play monetization model I think a more accurate label as pay to paper play referring to that initial price point you have to shell out to gain access to the ability to pay for every match ridiculous and then right here we have a post on the gaming subreddit with 21.9 thousand up votes with a headline that reads laugh my ass off paying real money for every match you play this is the stuff we joked EA would do can't believe it's a reality now and you can see right here that many people are in agreement judging by the 97% upvoted rating on top of all of these various comments with thousands of up votes talking about disgusting free-to-play business models that have been employed on mobile titles but again this is a free-to-play model that isn't actually even free-to-play in that there is an initial fee even by free-to-play standards this is horrendous but the icing on top is that initial fee they're charging for this game this guy right here josh fanbelt he's lost his damn mind this guy does not have a grip on reality to believe that this would all be welcomed with open arms and then you look at the trailer itself for the return of the calling and it still looks fairly low effort it still looks pretty uncompelled especially compared to some of the more kind of popular battle royale experiences out there it really isn't hard to spot a game that was created with a very cynical mindset and the calling it is prime example number one it is Exhibit A this is the work of a delusional mind it is delusion layered on top of a complete lack of shame for this guy to believe that any of this will work it is insulting to the intelligence of anyone with the most basic semblance of common sense just what is wrong with you Josh what the hell is wrong with you all right that's all I have to say let me know in the comments below what your thoughts and opinions are on the revival of the calling and to be further updated on all things gaming news reviews and discussions stay tuned right here on the young yeah I'll see you guys next time young out

Channel: YongYea

Views: 732,379

Rating: 4.9201593 out of 5

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Id: cpH5Cdaf-RA

Length: 19min 6sec (1146 seconds)

Published: Fri May 15 2020

Reddit Comments

[u/Kipagami]

I mean this IS the wizard101 model and people still pay for it. You can't pvp unless you pay the monthly membership fee. That's no different than the 30 day pass he mentions, except wizard101 is more expensive than the proposed Culling pass.

Now granted wizard101 is more than just pvp, but there actually are a lot of players that just login to pvp at this point. So the pay to play model isn't actually that far fetched. The pay per game token system sounds ridiculous, but the passes are no different than membership here.

In my opinion wizard101 provides way more content for the fee they charge (excluding the buy packs for a chance to get what you want), so I feel it is worth it. Having played the Culling back in the alpha, it was nowhere near enough content for any fees. Doesn't look like they added anything to increase the value either.