Virgin Media will pay you €800 to play GTA 6 for eight hours

Somebody in Ireland is getting paid to play GTA 6 in launch week. Virgin Media Ireland is running a competition that pays one person €100 an hour for eight hours of the game, so €800, and it buys the copy too.

The company's own line is about as simple as it gets: "Play GTA 6 for eight hours at €100 an hour." You don't have to do it in one sitting, either. Virgin Media says the winner can "split those eight hours across the week however suits".

The catch

There's one, and it's mild. Once you've played, you post an honest review on social media and tag Virgin Media Ireland. That's the deal. It's an advert for their broadband, basically, with you as the advert.

To apply, you fill in a form on Virgin Media Ireland's site and write 100 to 200 words on why you should get it. They want a "dedicated fan", so this is where you lay it on thick. A winner gets picked after entries close and contacted within seven days.

Can anyone enter?

Reports say it's open to people in the Republic of Ireland, and you don't need to be a Virgin Media customer. The deadline's less clear. VGTimes gives 15 November, while Dexerto says Virgin Media hasn't published one. If you're in Ireland and want it, don't wait to find out.

Dexerto's headline put it at $900, which is just the euro figure converted. It's €800 either way.

What eight hours actually gets you

Not much of GTA 6, honestly. On GTA 5, eight hours left you a long way off the end credits. But it's plenty to do the stuff everyone's going to do first: drive around, mess with people on the beach, and lose a whole evening in the customisation menus.

It's also part of a pattern. Companies have spent the last month queuing up to attach themselves to the launch, from Rockstar sponsoring Druski to Miami-Dade's tourism deal. Paying a fan to play is about the most honest version of it.

One warning, because it's that time of year. This is real, but plenty of "get paid to play GTA 6" offers in your DMs aren't. Only apply through Virgin Media Ireland's own site, and have a look at our early-access scam warning if anything asks you for card details.