Ubisoft's Avatar game has been delayed for the first time.
The popular game developer has recently announced it has decided to delay the game based on James Cameron's epic 2009 sci-fi film to make it perfect.
Ubisoft previously set the game's release sometime this year, according to Video Games Chronicle, while it was revealed during the game developer's Forward showcase event at E3 2021, per Tech Radar.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Delay Details
Ubisoft mentioned in its latest earnings call that it is delaying the release of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora from 2022 to April 2023 to give its development team more time to perfect the game, per Video Games Chronicle. However, the company's Q1 earnings report released on July 21 stated that the game could be released either in 2023 or in 2024.
According to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot's statement during the company's latest earnings call, the company wants to make the video game a "video game industry brand," and that the game must come out perfectly, per The Verge.
The game's developers said that the "ongoing contraints" affecting the video game industry's ability to develop games are the reason to blame for the game's delay, per Engadget.
However, Ubisoft assures its fans and gamers who are eagerly waiting for the game's release that it was still "committed" to creating a next-gen game from the "multi-year opportunity" Cameron's franchise presented.
"While this additional development is a reflection of the current ongoing constraints on productions across the industry, we are hard at work to design the most efficient working conditions to ensure both flexibility for our teams as well as strong productivity while delivering the best experiences for players," Ubisoft said, according to PC Gamer.
The delay could be considered a surprise to the gaming community as the game's development started way back in February 2017, giving the game's development team more than five years to perfect and finish it, per Polygon.
By contrast, Skull and Bones, another Ubisoft game that was also announced in 2017, recently escaped development hell and is scheduled for launch on Nov. 8, 2022, without any further delays.
However, there could be some truth to Ubisoft's "ongoing contraints" claim, as its other games like Ghost Recon Frontline and Splinter Cell VR, games that were announced in 2021, have been axed.
Ubisoft's decision to delay or even cancel some of its games follows its efforts to turn around its fortunes as its net bookings dropped by 10% less than the company had in 2021.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora Facts
Ubisoft's "Avatar" game is a first-person action-adventure game set in Pandora, the home of the Na'vi. It would feature an original storyline set in the western frontier of Pandora, far from the setting of the first film, per VentureBeat's interview with Disney and Pixar Games Vice President Luigi Priore.
The game's official website shows that game would feature various species of wildlife that were both seen and unseen during the first film's events. It would also feature a hub similar to EA's Anthem and Bungie's Destiny, wherein Na'vi gather together to intermingle with each other for various purposes.
Just like in the first film, the game puts the Na'vi against humanity's Resources Development Administration, which threatens to destroy Pandora with its significant armed tech in search of resources.
