Far Cry 4 fan climbs Mount Everest to play it: ‘It all seems so unreal’

Human bodies are not great at handling altitude. At around 8,000 feet, our lungs stop adjusting to the thin air, and you almost permanently feel out of breath. So Ubisoft decided it would trek up to around 18,000 feet to have one of its fans play some games.

To promote the release of open-world shooter Far Cry 4, Ubisoft started its “Quest for Everest” contest to invite someone to set the Guinness world record for the playing a game at the highest elevation. Utah-native and 23-year-old call-center manager Will Cruz won, and earlier this month, he made the climb up to Mount Everest with a crew of people carrying a console, a TV display, and some oxygen. Guinness confirmed that he was playing games at 18,569 feet (5,660 meters), which is about 1,000 feet above Everest’s base camp.