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Ubisoft/Fox: Massive (The Division) is making an Avatar game (Snowdrop, PC/consoles)

dex3108

Member
Well this is surprise announcement

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4BlJ-qFTonM

// Mod Edit:

This is part of Fox's recently announced new game division.

Ubisoft said:
NEW AVATAR GAME SPEARHEADED BY DIVISION DEVELOPER MASSIVENEWS VIDEOS by Mikel Reparaz | Editor | on February 28, 2017 | in Corporate Updates

The deadly moon of Pandora, along with its resident Na'vi, will soon be back in the spotlight thanks to a partnership between Ubisoft, Lighstorm Entertainment, and Fox Interactive. And Massive Entertainment, the minds behind The Division, will be the ones to take you there.

The new game will return PC and console players to the Avatar universe, using Massive's Snowdrop engine – also used in The Division and the upcoming South Park: The Fractured But Whole – to bring Pandora's unique terrain and inhabitants to life. It was after seeing a Snowdrop-run game prototype, in fact, that Avatar creator James Cameron and Lightstorm agreed to the partnership.


”What impressed me about Massive were the group's passion for this project, and the power of its Snowdrop engine," Cameron says. ”With the power of [Snowdrop], and the team's passion and obsessive focus on detail, we know they're the right group to bring the beauty and danger of Pandora to life."

With four sequels to Avatar in development, Massive and Lightstorm are working side-by-side to expand on the movie universe in new ways and offer the freedom to experience Pandora like never before. With the Game Developers Conference in full swing this week in San Francisco, they're scouting for top talent to help make the game a reality. Interested developers can check out the list of open positions here. And be sure to keep an eye on UbiBlog, where we'll have more on this game as it develops.
Source: http://blog.ubi.com/new-avatar-game-spearheaded-division-developer-massive/

It's also definitely an online focused game:

LIVE PRODUCER [AVATAR PROJECT - LIVE OPERATIONS]

JOB DESCRIPTION
As a Live Producer at Massive you are the spider in the web for the live game, managing the live operations team and acting as main point of contact and coordinator for all teams involved with the live game. Your responsibilities cover a wide array of different areas, including live development, player retention and acquisition, customer support, analytics, online infrastructure, digital sales and live P&L. You will work closely with producers and directors on the development team to prioritize and plan post launch development, bringing extensive knowledge of game data, operational solutions, community sentiment, ongoing issues and digital business to the table.

This is a permanent position based in Malmö, Sweden, and requires working onsite.

You as a person
You are calm, highly stress tolerant with the ability to keep multiple threads of information and communication in mind at the same time. You have excellent communication skills, that you utilize to get a clear message through when coordinating and informing the various teams you are working with, as well as when presenting your results and strategies to top management.

You have extensive experience in live game operations, preferably having been part of the launch of an online AAA product with high post launch ambitions. You understand the importance of game data and have the ability to combine your deep knowledge of games with actual game data to make player centric decisions.

You are creative, dedicated and have a strong passion for games. You are up to date on the latest end greatest live games in the industry, keeping a close eye on what the competition is doing in order to evolve and improve yourself and the game.

As a person you are service minded, thorough, team-spirited, result oriented and have the ability to get things done by collaborating with other people and working out solutions to complex operational problems.

Responsibilities:

Live Team - Manage and grow a healthy live operation team of operational managers and live developers. Guide and mentor your team, providing them with clear planning, processes and goals, as well as seeing to their wellbeing and personal evolution.
ARM Strategy - Create and evolve a strategy for Acquisition, Retention and Monetization of the live game, including release schedules, In-game events, live testing, anti-cheat, retention features, acquisition tools and more.
Release Operations - In the critical days and weeks after each new release, triage incoming issues and coordinate live teams to ensure quick resolutions to critical player facing issues.
Online Infrastructure - Work closely with the on-site infrastructure team and global internal IT to ensure a cost effective hosting solution with high uptime.
Digital Business - Working closely with global live brand and business teams, optimize the business performance of the live game.
Game Data - Work in close relation with the on-site analytics team to prepare them for your project needs and make sure you and the dev team have the data you need to make the right, player centric decision.
Frontline Coordination - Ensure your team follows up on issues reported by customer support frontline, and provides information and updates to frontline teams on ongoing issues.

http://www.massive.se/jobs/109533589/
 

iTehDroiD

Neo Member
giphy.gif


Yea I know why. Just wasn't expecting that from Ubisoft.
 
I'm so glad I remembered which Avatar related universe this was actually likely to be before clicking the link, saved myself some heartache there.
 

EBE

Member
First game was basic as hell but it wasn't terrible. I think the world of Avatar is visually interesting enough so why not make another game?
 

jtb

Banned
Smart move by all parties. Franchise will be enormous again, makes sense to capitalize on it on all fronts. And, hey, the universe is practically tailor made for fun games to be made within it anyways, so why not?
 

shaowebb

Member
Vid is not allowed in my country? WTH...
EDIT: Found it...dang. Was hoping it was an Avatar The Last Airbender project from those powerhouses...
 
Didn't really play much division but the beta was sort of fun. Plus these guys can make some nice looking games

I'm in. Could be pretty cool
 
Considering this is how a forest looked in Snowdrop circa 2013 --- I cannot wait to see what one looks like now in their awesome engine.
snowdrop-engine-04_713ea93.jpg
 
It would seem James Cameron was perfectly happy then with the last Ubisoft effort on Avatar xD

Interestingly, that used a Dunia engine derivation, which itself is a CryEngine 1 off-shoot. Now this will use Snowdrop engine, whose engine team is made up of a number of former CryEngine guys :p
 

Nirolak

Mrgrgr
To be clear, this is the James Cameron blue people Avatar.

As you can see, Fox's recently announced new game division is already getting to work.

Announcement video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=4&v=RIH9CAco_F8

Ubisoft said:
NEW AVATAR GAME SPEARHEADED BY DIVISION DEVELOPER MASSIVENEWS VIDEOS by Mikel Reparaz | Editor | on February 28, 2017 | in Corporate Updates

The deadly moon of Pandora, along with its resident Na'vi, will soon be back in the spotlight thanks to a partnership between Ubisoft, Lighstorm Entertainment, and Fox Interactive. And Massive Entertainment, the minds behind The Division, will be the ones to take you there.

The new game will return PC and console players to the Avatar universe, using Massive's Snowdrop engine – also used in The Division and the upcoming South Park: The Fractured But Whole – to bring Pandora's unique terrain and inhabitants to life. It was after seeing a Snowdrop-run game prototype, in fact, that Avatar creator James Cameron and Lightstorm agreed to the partnership.


”What impressed me about Massive were the group's passion for this project, and the power of its Snowdrop engine," Cameron says. ”With the power of [Snowdrop], and the team's passion and obsessive focus on detail, we know they're the right group to bring the beauty and danger of Pandora to life."

With four sequels to Avatar in development, Massive and Lightstorm are working side-by-side to expand on the movie universe in new ways and offer the freedom to experience Pandora like never before. With the Game Developers Conference in full swing this week in San Francisco, they're scouting for top talent to help make the game a reality. Interested developers can check out the list of open positions here. And be sure to keep an eye on UbiBlog, where we'll have more on this game as it develops.
Source: http://blog.ubi.com/new-avatar-game-spearheaded-division-developer-massive/
 

Mash83

Member
Wow, I figured with the success of The Division that they would working on the follow up. I guess Ubi is big enough to have passed that to another studio or they could be working on both simultaneously.
 
Say what you will about Cameron, but the guy has manages to exceed expectations in a pretty spectacular manner. I'm not interested in an Avatar game right now, but I'm sure as hell going to keep an eye on this project.
 

Courage

Member
The previous Avatar game was also by Ubisoft, iirc.

I'm curious to see how it'll fit with today's Ubisoft. I assume another MMO-lite/open world coop game?
 
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