Update, July 21, 2022, at 12:15 p.m. CT: Ubisoft has reportedly canceled four in-development games, including Splinter Cell VR and Ghost Recon Frontline
What you need to know
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an upcoming first-person adventure game from Ubisoft set in the cinematic Avatar universe.
- As part of Ubisoft's FY23 Q1 earnings report, the company announced that the game has been delayed.
- Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is now slated to arrive in 2023 to 2024, as opposed to its original 2022 release window.
- A smaller, unannounced premium game was also delayed to the same period.
Ubisoft is taking another stab at translating the popular Avatar cinematic franchise to video games with an ambitious first-person adventure built exclusively for current-gen platforms. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was originally slated for a release at some point in 2022, but Ubisoft's recent earnings call for Q1 of its 2023 fiscal year changes those plans.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is now slated to release in 2023 or even 2024, with Ubisoft still "committed to delivering a cutting-edge immersive experience." The company described the project as representing a "major multi-year opportunity," and cited ongoing constraints in the wider video game industry as its reasons for delaying the title.
Alongside the announcement, Ubisoft revealed that a smaller, unannounced "premium game" is also being delayed out of 2022 into the same vague time period as Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. While details on this unannounced game are scarce, it's possibly a stealth-focused Assassin's Creed spin-off game. Unfortunately, we'll likely have to wait even longer to learn more about this mysterious title.
There's little information available on Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, as well, although we know that Ubisoft is gunning straight for the most ambitious and greatest games with the Avatar game tie-in. The upcoming game will let players take control of a Na'vi as part of an expanded narrative adventure, in which players will explore the beautiful world of Pandora and take on an unknown threat. Hopefully, we'll learn more about Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the as-of-yet-unknown unannounced game in the near future.
Update
Multiple media outlets are reporting that, during Ubisoft's FY23 Q1 earnings call, the major publisher announced that four in-development projects have been completely canceled, on top of the two delayed games detailed above. The canceled projects include Splinter Cell VR, the Ghost Recon Frontline battle royale, and two other unannounced games. The games were canceled due to financial reasons, according to Ubisoft, with little additional information provided.
Little was known about the Splinter Cell VR, and the two other canceled games were an utter mystery. However, Ghost Recon Frontline received significant backlash from the community after its announcement, causing Ubisoft to consequently delay the title and a planned playtest. Now, it seems the project has been shelved entirely.
Zachary Boddy is the Minecraft Expert and a News Writer for Windows Central, Android Central, and iMore. They have been gaming and writing for most of their life, and have been freelancing for Windows Central and its sister sites since 2019, with a focus on Xbox and PC gaming. You can find Zachary on Twitter @BoddyZachary.
We hope you weren't expecting to play Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora before the next movie arrives. Ubisoft and Massive Entertainment have delayed the Avatar game to 2023 or 2024. The developers pinned the setback on "ongoing constraints" affecting game production across the industry. Ubisoft said it was still "committed" to creating a next-gen game and saw James Cameron's franchise as a "multi-year opportunity."
Other projects are facing delays or even cancellations. Axios' Stephen Totilo noted that Ubisoft has cancelled its battle royale brawler Ghost Recon Frontline and Splinter Cell VR. The company also dropped two unannounced games, and has pushed back a lower-profile "premium" game from a 2022-2023 release window to 2023-2024.
The decisions come as Ubisoft tries to turn around its fortunes. While it did see "better than expected" sales from the Assassin's Creed series and Rainbow Six Siege in the first quarter, its net bookings dipped 10 percent compared to a year earlier. Ubisoft's business isn't booming, and the delays for games like Frontiers of Pandora only increase the pressure to cut costs.
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