Ubisoft has put its recently released Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on sale for 50% off less than two months after the game arrived on Steam.
A screenshot from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Massive Entertainment
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora released on December 7, 2023 for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S. However, it did not arrive on Steam until June 17, 2024 and it’s already on sale on Steam for 50% off.
As shown in the screenshot below, one can currently purchase the Ultimate Edition of the game for $64.99 which is less than what the game originally retailed for at $69.99.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Massive Entertainment
This sale comes in the wake of Ubisoft detailing in its Q3 2023-24 Sales Report that “Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora set an industry benchmark in terms of world creation and was favorably received by players, positioning the game to be a long-term seller.”
The report also added, “Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora was released on December 7 and set an industry benchmark in terms of world creation with a breathtaking recreation of Pandora, an immersive Na’vi experience and a canon addition to the Avatar story, showcasing the power of Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine and new gen technology.
“The release achieved a solid Metacritic user score and was met with strong community reception,” it stated. “Players praised the faithful fidelity to the Avatar IP and the freedom to explore the world, positioning the game to be a long-term seller, notably thanks to its post-launch roadmap and the growing new gen consoles install base.”
A screenshot from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Massive Entertainment
Of note, the report did not provide any information on how well the game actually sold. The company’s CEO Yves Guillemot did state, “This quarter provided us with positive momentum and marks the beginning of our turnaround to consistently creating and delivering high-quality, long-lasting games. Our performance was driven by the releases of Assassin’s Creed Mirage and Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, by the continued strong trajectory of The Crew Motorfest, as well as by the robust performance of our backcatalog.”
When digging into the sales report, Ubisoft admitted that their total net bookings of €626.2 million for the quarter was down 13.8% compared to the previous year. Ubisoft released Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope and Just Dance 2023 Edition in the third quarter of 2022-23. Based on that report much of the net bookings for the quarter came from Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six Siege with the company touting, “December posted another record month for DARPU, which grew more than 30% year-on-year during the quarter, and engagement is back to double-digit year on-year growth since the beginning of calendar year 2023.”
Tom Henderson at Insider Gaming reported in January of this year that the game had “accumulated 1.9 million players (estimated $133m in revenue).”
A screenshot from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Massive Entertainment
Looking at SteamDB’s player charts, the game had a peak concurrent player count of 1,117 when it released to Steam in June. The 50% off sale appears to have driven a boost in player counts as the peak concurrents doubled from August 10th, where it was at 242 players to 571 on August 12th. In the last 24-hours the peak concurrent hit 697.
Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Steam charts via SteamDB
It’s hard to imagine the game has recovered its costs even with the estimated revenue being $133 million.
The game saw multiple delays in its development cycle. It was originally supposed to release between April 2022 and March 2023. However, it was then delayed to be released between April 2023 and March 2024. Obviously, it eventually released on December 7, 2023. This is on top of whatever the company paid to license the game.
A screenshot from Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora (2023), Massive Entertainment
What do you make of Ubisoft putting Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora on sale on Steam less than 2 months after the game arrived on the platform?
