Ubisoft decides to shut down Hyper Scape on April 28
Ubisoft has announced that Hyper Scape, a free-to-play battle royale shooter, will be discontinued in 2022. The company announced the closure in a short blog post. Hyper Scape’s servers will be shut down on April 28.
In a short blog published on January 27, Ubisoft announced that Hyper Scape has been discontinued and that the developer will learn from it and implement the knowledge they have acquired in their future games.
“We have made the difficult decision to end development of Hyper Scape and shut the game down as of April 28. We set out to create a vertical, close-quarters, and fast-paced shooter experience and we are extremely grateful to our community for joining us on our journey. We will be taking key learnings from this game into future products,” Ubisoft’s statement read.
In regard to the closure of Hyper Scape, the company also thanked the community for their support, “To the Hyper Scape community, thank you for your passion and dedication to the world of Neo Arcadia both inside and outside of the game. Your devotion to the game we built will always be cherished.”
Hyper Scape’s demise
After making a splash during its beta period, Hyper Scape launched in August 2020. It aimed to stand out with its unique take on the circle mechanic, but many players found it too hard and repetitive.
It was interesting to see how Hyper Scape took on the battle royale genre. Its unique close-combat gameplay mechanic and urban environment were neat departures from the typical battle royale games.
However, due to the rise of the battle royale genre, Hyper Scape had to compete against some of the larger competitors, such as Apex Legends and Fortnite.
The game’s appeal waned after the official release. It even started offering $10 Ubisoft store coupons to incentivize players.
Moreover, the game’s slow rollout and low player count eventually caught the attention of the developers, who decided to implement a more gradual update and fix strategy.
As player numbers dropped, Hyper Scape adjusted by reducing the player count from 100 to 60, and it highlighted its well-received deathmatch mode. However, because of the lack of player numbers, it is still considered forgotten by the collective gaming community.
Hyper Scape, Twitch partnership
Hyper Scape was made in collaboration with Twitch, and it was designed to be more than just a battle royale game. The real secret sauce of Hyper Scape is its integration with Twitch.
Through this feature, viewers can see the in-game statistics and play with their favorite streamers, allowing them to improve their skills. Twitch chat can even intervene with the streamer’s game by changing the in-game events. Also, the viewers can vote on the game’s various game and map modifiers.
Despite all the exciting features and integration with Twitch, Hyper Scape still failed to appeal to more gamers. Eventually, the number of players plummeted and led to the game’s demise.
Following Hyper Scape’s closure, Ubisoft has announced that it will still develop new battle royale games. Ubisoft’s next battle royale project will revolve around the Ghost Recon universe, and the title is Ghost Recon Frontline.
