Fans had some pretty high expectations going into the Disney and Marvel Games Showcase, but fans expecting to see some new footage from already-announced, high-profile titles, likeAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, they were probably left a little disappointed. It was the first collaboration event between the two gaming teams; both brands promised a lot from this event, and for some fans, it will have certainly lived up to expectations, with a newTrongame,Skydance’s Marvel project, and more being announced. Still, it was a letdown forFrontiers of Pandoradie-hards.
Rather than showing off any new trailers for the highly-anticipatedAvatar: Frontiers of Pandora, the upcomingmobile-exclusive MMO,Avatar: Reckoningwas given a new look-in. Over the course of about a minute, actually being one of the longer trailers from the event, a good chunk ofAvatar: Reckoning’s gameplay was shown off, from being able to customize the player’s Avatar and loadouts, to gameplay footage of boss fights and PvP matches. While the gameplay looks relatively impressive, especially for a mobile title, the limited presence ofAvatar: Frontiers of Pandorais surprising.
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Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorawas first announced all the way back in March 2017, over five years ago. The very first trailer released forAvatar: Frontiers of Pandoracame out in June 2021, duringUbisoft’s E3 conference. The nearly three-minute trailer showcased some beautiful and authenticAvatarlocales, ranging from luminescent forests to floating cliffs and stark skies. The trailer was very impressive, with Ubisoft’s new Snowdrop Engine clearly being the perfect fit forAvatar’s expansive, nature-focused setting.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandoramade a brief appearance at the Disney and Marvel showcase, but since this was for well under a minute, its reveal is all fans really have to go off of. Just recently, towards the end of July,Frontiers of Pandorawas given a fairly sizable delay, pushing it from its original 2022 release date, to somewhere in 2023, or even beyond. While it’s pretty normal for a game to go silent after a delay, especially when it’s at least a year out,Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora’s brief presence at theDisney and Marvel Games Showcasewas a tad strange, particularly when it appeared prominently in the showcase’s intro reel.
By releasing just a minute-long trailer ofAvatar: Reckoning’s gameplay, fans have already seen more of that game than they have ofAvatar:Frontiers of Pandora. For reference,Avatar: Reckoningwas first announced in January of this year, and in just seven months, it’s already received two trailers, the first of which dropped in June 2022. Despite also receiving its own delay, which also pushed the game from 2022 to 2023,Avatar: Reckoninghas managed to keep the fans updated, providing a short but significant look at some of the game’s most important mechanics.
While this all might be disappointing for some fans, it shouldn’t be anything to worry about too much.Avatar: Reckoningmay have had more trailers thanFrontiers of Pandora, but it’s also a much more contained game, with a developer that has a history of creating mobile-exclusive MMOs, most of which have been built on the same Unreal Engine 4.Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, on the other hand, is being developed by Massive Entertainment, who have created open-world games before, including the twoDivisiongames, but they haven’t quite been on the same scale asFrontiers of Pandora. Additionally, Massive is also having to adapt toUbisoft’s brand new Snowdrop Engine, which is always a challenge for developers. All in all, hope isn’t lost forFrontiersyet.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandorais in development for Amazon Luna, PC, PS5, Stadia, and Xbox Series X/S.
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