Ubisoft have delayed open world action adventure game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and are now aiming for a 2023-24 launch.

While such delays in gaming are common, just two months ago they announced it would launch in the final quarter of this year which would have coincided with the Avatar film.

Their press release includes a typically long-winded statement to the effect that they need more time.

Could they really have gone from confident of a December release to realising they need up to two more years of development in just the space of two months?

James Cameron is planning to release subsequent Avatar films every two years so if they want to try again for a parallel release, their next opportunity won't be until 2024.

Quite possibly the game they intended to release this year could have been released on time but they've had cause to rethink its design.

Elden Ring has shaken up gaming standards and conventions and continues to dominate sales.

Starfield finally lifted the lid and shared the first real details about its design.

No Man's Sky continues to add and grow features.

Excitement surrounding The Callisto Protocol which is launching in December and would have been Frontier's biggest competitor is extremely strong.

While they never declared their intentions to sell Avatar NFTs with the game, Ubisoft are uber sweet on NFTs.

This year we've seen that market crash and continued strong opposition from both gamers and gaming media.

It's worth noting that Ubisoft have shared no gameplay footage for Frontiers and all we know is that's it an open-world action adventure game.

For a game which was supposed to be launching this year, that is unusual.

And it means that Ubisoft have the freedom to change its design without having to admit it.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is now scheduled for 2023-24 release on PC, Xbox and PlayStation.

[ Main Image: Avatar Frontiers of Pandora. Credit: Ubisoft via IMDb.com. ]

References

Gach, Ethan (December 17, 2021). Ubisoft Boss Tells Employees That NFTs Are Just The Beginning. Kotaku.

Ubisoft (July 21, 2022). Ubisoft Reports First-Quarter 2022-23 Sales.

Wikipedia. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. (viewed July 22, 2022)