A game adaptation of a popular animated series is in the works. It’s common, but the genre is a bit different from the plethora of licensed games…

California-based publisher Maximum Games has announced its plans for 2024. The company, which recently merged with Modus, has a new IP called Avatar: The Last Airbender in the works. The publisher wants to make it a competitive fighting game, and all that’s official at the moment is that it’s coming to Early Access sometime next year. (So it’s almost guaranteed that we’ll be able to find the game on Steam, as the Early Access approach is most common on Valve’s platform).

Maximum Games and Modus have previously shown a strong interest in fighting games. They are also currently working on an experimental fighting game, Diesel Legacy. They acquired Mane 6, who put together Them’s Fightin’ Herds, and have made console adaptations of that game. Last year they also released God of Rock, which was good in concept but forgettable in execution. Given all that, Avatar: The Last Airbender might be a surprisingly decent game from Maximum Games, but let’s not forget that it won’t reach the heights of Bandai Namco’s Tekken 8 or Capcom’s Street Fighter 6. (Not to mention the “second-tier” fighting games from Arc System Works…)

This may be a weakness of the fighting game genre. There are the AAA publishers/studios, and they get the most attention. In contrast, indie brawler titles don’t really have a chance to become popular enough, and that’s the problem Avatar: The Last Airbender might run into. Maybe it won’t, and eventually there will be a chance to get a big enough audience.

It will certainly be at least two years before a full release, and since no target platforms were mentioned by Maximum Games during the announcement, a Nintendo Switch sequel is likely to be one of them. Perhaps we will hear more about the game soon.

Source: WCCFTech