Spil som Fortnite, Apex Legends og Call of Duty: Warzone har haft enorm succes, og det skyldes delvist at spillene er gratis at spille, hvor omsætningen så kommer fra salget af mikrotransaktioner. Et af de helt originale Battle Royale-spil, The Culling, vender i dag tilbage til Xbox One efter at have været blevet lukket ned af udvikleren Xaviant sidste år, men det vender tilbage med et mildest talt bizart twist.
Som det fremgår via WCCFTech, så er spillet hverken gratis, og du kan heller ikke betale for hele oplevelsen. I stedet får du én gratis kamp om dagen, og vinder du, så kan du spille en gratis kamp til. Desuden kan du vælge at købe adgang til utallige kampe i syv dage, eller i 30 dage.
Players can play one free match online 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 (3 tokens = $0.99, 10 tokens = $2.99, 20 tokens = $4.99)
Online Passes providing unlimited online play can be purchased for 7 Days ($1.99) or 30 Days ($5.99)
Ja, vi ved ikke lige med den forretningsmodel, men Xaviant selv virker optimistiske. Instruktør Josh Van Veld siger:
"The Culling is one of the pioneers of the Battle Royale genre and even today it stands alone as a unique up-close-and-personal combat experience. We get messages every day from players who want The Culling to come back and for the last several months we've been working to make that happen. Our new approach focuses on sustainability - we've optimized our systems to keep server costs low and we've shifted our monetization approach to ensure that players will be able to visit the island for years to come. Initially we're focusing on Xbox One with this effort, but we're working to bring back the PC version in the future."