Interactive entertainment company Kabam has already proven to be a force to be reckoned with in the mobile world, especially with popular titles like Lord of the Rings: Legends of Middle-Earth, Star Wars: Uprising and Marvel: Contest of Champions. But that isn’t stopping the company from stepping into new territory because it’s about to take on one of the biggest franchises to date.
The company has announced that it’s working alongside Lightstorm Entertainment and 20th Century Fox Film to create a strategy game based on the world of James Cameron’s 2009 film Avatar. As with previous titles Kabam has worked on, the game will feature a focus on massively multiplayer online (MMO) action, built around developing strategies in the world of Pandora.
Kabam will work closely with Lightstorm to re-immerse fans into the world of Avatar just in time for its anticipated cinematic sequel—expected to arrive sometime in December 2018.
“We develop games that people return to and play for years, and the Avatar game will deliver new and unexpected thrills to gamers for the foreseeable future,” said Kent Wakeford, chief operating officer of Kabam, about the project. “James Cameron and the Avatar franchise are synonymous with groundbreaking technology and pushing the envelope. We plan to live up to those standards by creating the best triple-A massively multiplayer mobile game possible for the franchise.”
The game will feature characters and environments from the movie universe, with consistent updates, including potential missions that could tie in with not just the sequel, but other films. Cameron currently has four different Avatar sequels on the slate, with plenty of room for the game to expand.
“Kabam has an excellent reputation for building compelling mobile games that explore detailed worlds, which makes them an ideal partner for our franchise,” said Jon Landau, Avatar producer and chief operating officer of Lightstorm Entertainment. “The world of Pandora is massive, far beyond what we are able to include in our feature films, and we think fans will be excited by the level of additional depth and detail that they will be able to experience in this game.”
Even in the shadow of big franchises like Star Wars and Marvel, Kabam considers Avatar its biggest project to date, especially considering the original film’s massive $2.8 billion box office haul. “Much like the Avatar films, this mobile game will bring a brand new experience to players everywhere. Phones and tablets will become high-fidelity windows into a living, breathing, interactive world of stunning beauty,” said Mike Verdu, president of studios and chief creative officer of Kabam. “The company has put forward one of the largest development budgets in mobile gaming history and assigned some of its top talent. The final product is going to be amazing.”
There’s no word on when the game will release, but it’s likely that Kabam will take its time with it and release it right when the movie sequel begins building up toward a release.
Considering Kabam’s previous track record with mobile games, Avatar should have no trouble finding a strong mobile audience.
