Gaming

Ubisoft will actually pay you to play 'Hyper Scape' on PC

There's a tiny condition, however.

Starting today through December 16, you will get a $10 coupon to play Hyper Scape on PC, according to Ubisoft. It's no Call of Duty, but the first-person shooter (FPS) game has slowly won the attention and approval of gamers this year.

The plot is futuristic, set in 2054 with a lot of misery borrowed from our present world. For example, in Hyper Scape, climate change has fundamentally altered our ecosystem. Millions of jobs have been automated to the point where desperate workers are beginning to lose hope. It gets meta, so stick with me: Hyper Scape is about a video game within an actual video game.

The science-fiction battle royale game can field up to 100 players as they try to shape the end result of the plot. Without spoiling anything, you as a Hyper Scape player have to figure out what's going on inside the game where shady things — people disappearing and hackers attacking the simulation — are happening.

All you have to do is download Hyper Scape on Ubisoft Connect for your PC. You will get your coupon via email.

This might work for Hyper Scape Creative marketing solutions presented at the right time can have a miraculous effect on a product's struggling image and appeal. In other words, slapping a $10 coupon on the game during the holiday season might work for Ubisoft, which hasn't enjoyed groundbreaking reception for Hyper Scape.

Initially, Hyper Scape was only successful as far as its technical tests were concerned. When it was released to the public, as The Verge noted, its launch on Twitch was shaky where its creators had dreamed to compete with other FPS titles. When it went live on Twitch in August, the game amassed only 11,000 viewers (which sounds almost as bad as Amazon's now-yanked Crucible attempt). In contrast, Hyper Scape's rivals like Fall Guys, Call of Duty: Warzone, Fortnite, and Apex Legends boast millions of fans and mountainous viewership.

There's a slight condition attached to the Hyper Scape offer. You can take advantage of the $10 coupon as long as you shop within the Ubisoft Store. It's not a terrible condition either. It means you can put it toward Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Watch Dogs Legion, and Immortals Fenyx Rising among other titles. So if the meta nature of the game overwhelms or conversely, bores you, just switch to fighting ancient warriors in Assassin's Creed instead.