It came and went with little fanfare two years ago, but overnight its reviews improved and its Steam player count quadrupled. Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is taking advantage of the popularity of the film Avatar: Fire and Ash to be reborn.
After a couple of truly inconsequential years, the video game Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has begun to flourish on, at least, Steam. Valve’s API is registering player counts that comfortably quadruple the previous all-time peak of concurrent users, and it’s hoped that its sales have also improved proportionally.
More specifically, SteamDB tells us that Massive and Ubisoft’s open-world game reached a new peak of 12,496 concurrent players as of December 28, far surpassing the modest 1,117 concurrent players it had when it launched on Valve’s platform. According to Gamalytic’s estimates, the game sold over 65,000 copies in the last week.
“It’s a gorgeous visual demo. And quite fun, too,” says a Steam user who goes by Josh6499. The presentation of its science-fiction world was one of the highlights mentioned in almost every review of the game in December 2023, aligning closely with the source material.
As a reminder, the PC version of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora originally appeared exclusively on Ubisoft Connect and Amazon Luna. It didn’t arrive on Steam or the Epic Games Store until June 2024, by which time interest had waned following a rather lukewarm initial reception from the press and fans.
In other words, going back to Steam’s sales figures specifically does Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora a great disservice. We’re discussing a title that was initially considered forgettable, and we’re also dealing with a platform that only picked it up several months after its original release.
The Influence of Fire and Ash
However, Steam represents a benchmark that can be discussed with relative accuracy, and in that sense, it’s clear that the game is doing better than ever as new fans celebrate its graphics and gameplay. This phenomenon is easier to understand if we examine the current state of the franchise. Just a few days ago, director James Cameron released his new film, Avatar: Fire and Ash, in theaters.
As one of the highest-grossing science-fiction film franchises in the history of the medium, it’s no surprise that its viewers have shown interest in other products set in the alien jungles of Pandora. And the game has capitalized on this renewed interest in several ways.
On one hand, the base game of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is enjoying a generous discount in the Steam Christmas Sale, dropping from €29.99 to €20.09, until January 5 if you want to take advantage of the offer. It has also recently been updated to include the third-person camera for free, which was one of the most requested features at launch, as well as to welcome the paid expansion From the Ashes. The latter boasts a 74% positive review score on Valve’s platform.
Source: 3djuegos
