The movie had to ”prove itself” and by the time it did the game ”was kind of old news” and didn’t perform well. Game itself was ”damn good job”.
The Hollywood legend James Cameron can easily see the Avatar IP becoming an MMO project, given the breadth of the world it represents. ”I think Avatar is a perfect IP for an MMO. It’s a very, very big world,” said the big time director.
”Based on the first film, you might not sense that, but we’re talking about an entire planet, an entire alter world, and in fact a universe that has other planetary bodies, as well, and other cultures, other life forms.”
”Eventually people will see enough scope to be able to see how the MMO will work, but that’s going to have to be launched… the timing of that is going to have to be carefully orchestrated with the release of the second and third film because we don’t want to be giving away elements before the fact,” he explained.
The first Avatar videogame was no hit like the movie; it tanked. ”The Avatar game hit the street well before the movie came out and it wasn’t like an anticipated movie in the sense it was a known brand. It had to prove itself,” said Cameron.
”And Avatar, the movie, entered the marketplace with a healthy opening but nothing resounding, nothing that certainly would have told you it was about to set the record as the highest grossing film in history. It had to prove itself in the marketplace.”
”By the time it had proven itself, the videogame was kind of old news and so it under-performed, but the underperformance I think was just a release timing issue. The actual game itself I think, while it can be improved, I think they did a pretty damn good job integrating the stereoscopic experience into the gaming experience,” he added.
No official Avatar MMO project has been announced but it seems the powers that be in Hollywood are interested in someone picking up the banner. Would the world of Avatar provide an interesting setting for an MMO community?
