Razer Paying Gamers to Use its Cortex Software

Peripheral maker Razer has launched a new “pay to play” scheme to encourage gamers to use its free Cortex PC performance-boosting software. You won’t be getting money to use the software, though: the company is including Cortex in its new zVault points initiative. zVault points can be used to purchase hardware and peripherals from the Razer website.

According to Razer:

“Razer Cortex brings enhanced gaming performance, recording and streaming gameplay, and the ability to find the best gaming deals to a single screen with all your games just a click away. Unlock your system’s full potential with a variety of performance enhancing and optimization tools for higher frames per second or to cut down on boring load times. Whether you want an automated solution or to keep control over everything, higher PC gaming performance is at your fingertips.”

Cortex users can earn 3 zSilver for every minute played, with a maximum earning allowance of 900 points per day. Rewards range from between 4,500 for a product discount to 220,000 for a mechanical keyboard.

“The concept of everyday gamers getting paid to play has never been done by a hardware brand in the gaming industry,” Min-Liang Tan, Razer’s CEO and co-founder, said (via Forbes). “Gamers may reap the benefits of a rewards system simply by doing things they’re already doing.”