Last week, Ubisoft launched a new battle royale called Hyper Scape. Although the game is still not available for everyone, it already has the makings of an esport.
The Hyper Scape beta technical test has already closed and players must wait for an official release sometime later this year. There will likely be more info in Ubisoft Forward, an “E3 like event” taking place on July 12. The game has a unique focus on entertaining both players and viewers, showing that Ubisoft hopes to launch the game as an esport.
Hyper Scape Joins Esports
The goal of Hyper Scape is similar to most battle royale games, but there is also a unique win condition. Players can obtain a crown that will spawn and the team that holds on to it for long enough wins. This “Capture the Flag” win condition forces opponents to be aggressive or risk losing due because another team holds the crown. As always, eliminating all other teams will also result in a win.
The game combines Overwatch and Valorant-like abilities as items collected throughout the matches. Players can level up these Hacks and their weapons by finding duplicates. This system is simple and removes the need to understand large loot pools.
Hyper Scape Viewer Events
Another unique feature that Hyper Scape uses is the ability for viewers on streamers to activate in-game events. Live streamers can activate Crowncast, a plug-in that allows their viewers to vote on what in-game event will happen next. By letting viewers influence the game, Ubisoft aims to solve one of the biggest problems with some esports.
Hyper Scape’s Crowncast gives viewers a chance to be part of the action. Here are the effects you can use to alter a Crown Rush match. pic.twitter.com/qrhXbA48xq
— Hyper Scape (@HyperScapeGame) July 5, 2020
The events affect all players in a game and have a wide range of effects. Some events include unlimited ammo, low-gravity, and supply crate spawns. Letting viewers influence the game in these ways helps to keep them entertained and active. Viewer entertainment is one of the biggest issues esports sometimes faces when keeping viewers involved.
Overwatch League has suffered from reduced viewership in recent months. And many people believe this is because the game is too hard to watch. Popular streamer Herschel “Dr DisRespect” Beahm IV spoke about Overwatch’s phenomenon in May.
“It’s a lot of fun to play it’s just really hard to like, sit down and watch somebody play it”
It seems Ubisoft is trying to combat this issue by letting players be a part of the game. When Hyper Scape becomes available this summer, it’s likely an esports scene will follow. Fan input will play a large role in the way each match turns out.
Overall, the game has a unique focus on shaking up the battle royale genre. Even the shrinking play area does not follow the normal system. Ubisoft is explicit in pointing out the game uses a “non-circular” system to make the play area smaller. The developers are trying to find new ways to captivate both players and audiences. There are also some unreleased game modes with more potentially genre-breaking playstyles. Hyper Scape will be available on PC and consoles later this year.
Written by Efren Hurtado
Source: https://www.esportznetwork.com/is-hyper-scape-the-next-big-esport/
