 "The Culling" initially was popular, but in the wake of two other battle royale games, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and "Fortnite Battle Royale", the player base for "The Culling" waned, and Xaviant halted future development in December 2017.The company later announced a sequel, "The Culling 2", which was released in July 2018, amid the popularity of "Fortnite Battle Royale".It was panned by players and lacked sufficient players for full matches within a few days, leading Xaviant to pull the sequel from marketplaces, and instead restart work on adapting "The Culling" as a free-to-play title.