With Ubisoft's open-world adventure Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora releasing sometime in 2022, it has to succeed for players to even give its untitled Star Wars game a proper chance. Though a mastermind behind some of the best open-world franchises within the game industry, Ubisoft's formula has grown a bit stale. Some players have gotten tired of the year after year releases of the open-world titles such as Far Cry or Assassin's Creed due to the lists of in-game "chores" that each one comes with. Whether it's capturing enemy outposts or hunting animals, there are many rinse and repeat missions that can waste a lot of time while failing to add anything of significance to the gameplay. For Ubisoft's forthcoming Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and its next foray into a Disney IP, the untitled Star Wars game, Ubisoft is going to have re-invent the wheel for its open-world titles.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world title developed by Massive Entertainment that is set to release sometime this year and allows players to freely roam the lush alien planet of Pandora that fans may remember from the 2009 film, Avatar. Though Frontiers of Pandora's launch date could be approaching quickly, since its announcement, there has yet to be a release date nor any kind of gameplay trailer given to players to allow for even a glimpse of what is to be expected. Something as troubling as this could signal Frontiers of Pandora's delay as Ubisoft may also be feeling the weight of this gigantic franchise on its shoulders.
Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora's Impact On Star Wars
Ubisoft isn't the only one who has a lot riding on this as so does Disney. In fact, part of why there has yet to be real talk about the upcoming Star Wars title to the public could be contingent on Ubisoft's handling of Frontiers of Pandora. With the amusement park icon's past issues with IP and EA's mishandling of the Star Wars: Battlefront titles, one can't blame Disney if this is how the company is doing business pertaining to its intellectual properties these days.
This could be a good thing of course, as it puts a fire under Ubisoft to create the best open-world game it has ever done. As where Frontiers of Pandora is a first-person title at its core, Ubisoft can take what worked with the Far Cry series and use that to lay the foundation for a solid new FPS experience that will set the future for its titles of that genre in motion. Intriguing environments, characters, and fantastic weapons to use against foes are the cream of the crop when it comes to Far Cry and the world of Avatar mirrors those aspects perfectly. There is so much room for creativity with this franchise that Ubisoft should really focus on making this its magnum opus.
Frontiers Of Pandora Is The Only Hope For A Galaxy Far Far Away
Though some gamers can't seem to get enough of Ubisoft's huge open worlds no matter what lies inside them, the other side of the gaming community is going to be the voice that Disney is listening for. If Frontiers of Pandora can't get enough players to try it out, or it launches in a broken state, Ubisoft could be looking at a hard loss. At that point, not only would this game fail, but the hype behind Star Wars could come crumbling down around it, and fast.
There is something to be said about Ubisoft's ability to try new things, see how the ideas stick, and then move on from that point. It's an extremely innovative company that isn't afraid to take risks even if it has rested on its laurels at times. There is no doubt that Ubisoft has a mountain to climb as Frontiers of Pandora nears an inevitable release date, but at least the company can learn from EA's mistakes in order to fully deliver on what gamers and Disney want out of its IPs.
Avatar: The Frontiers of Pandora is set to release in 2022 for Google Stadia, PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series S/X.