‘Hyper Scape’ shutdown: Ubisoft to end game’s development and close its servers in April

Ubisoft announced on Thursday that it would stop the development of “Hyper Scape” in the coming months. That also means its servers will be shut down soon, leaving its loyal fans only a few months left to keep playing the game.

“Hyper Scape” is one of the more recently released titles in the already tight race of battle royale games. Its open beta tests went live in July 2020, followed by its full release in August that year. Now, just under 18 months since its official release, Ubisoft games confirmed its servers would be shut down on Apr. 28.

In a blog post, ironically titled “The Future of Hyper Scape,” Ubisoft said closing the game was a “difficult decision,” but the company did not elaborate on why it ultimately decided to pull the plug. “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,” Ubisoft wrote. “We will be taking key learnings from this game into future products.”

“Hyper Scape” launched at a time when there were already several battle royale-themed games in the market. But it initially managed to gather interest as some of its gameplay design is different from the likes of “PUBG.” “Hyper Scape” focused on close-quarter gunfights and many of its fans appreciated it for its movements-based and fast-paced mechanics.

The future of “Hyper Scape” looked bright at first. During its open beta phase, the game quickly entered Twitch’s most-watched games list with nearly 500,000 viewers. However, that immediately changed with reports that its active viewers were down to just around 11,000 when it officially launched, even though its channel had more than 240,000 followers at the time.

While fans are saddened by the news of the “Hyper Scape” shutdown, most of them are not surprised. It is also worth noting that the game got its last patch in April 2021. Since then, Ubisoft had been silent about its plans for the game until the shutdown was announced this week. And the lack of updates for that much time may have given fans a hint at the game’s imminent closure.

Others are also speculating that the “Hyper Scape” shutdown may have been decided so that Ubisoft could allocate its servers to another game. The news of the game’s closure happens around the same time that the publisher has sent invites for the closed beta tests for “Ghost Recon: Frontline,” which will reportedly start on Friday, Jan. 30.