In advance of the launch of Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, one early access player discovered that the physical edition needs an online connection just to install the game, preventing access entirely for now. After numerous delays, the latest Ubisoft open world title, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, is now days away from release. Unlike previous Ubisoft open world games like Assassin's Creed Valhalla, Far Cry 6, and Ghost Recon: Breakpoint, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora attempts to break free of the typical mold these big games fall into.

Although Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora does come with a massive open map filled with icons, there seems to be less emphasis on static radio style towers, a feature made infamous by the Far Cry series for slowly uncovering a map. Instead, developer Massive Entertainment seems to place a greater emphasis on exploration and environmental design in order for players to naturally discover the world of Pandora. Traversal and movement has also been a major emphasis for Avatar featuring fast parkour movement as well as ridable mounts like Banshees and Direhorses. However, one thing that hasn't changed is the mandatory online requirement, which now extends to simply being able to install the game at all.

Related

Ubisoft Reveals Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora Pre-Order Bonuses

Ubisoft officially reveals the items gamers will get as a bonus for pre-ordering Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora for their platform of choice.

The discovery was posted online within the Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora subReddit by a user named Interesting-Squash81. After getting their hands on a physical copy of the game days before its launch date, the user attempted to install the game on their PlayStation 5. When the game boots up, they're met with a static image of the Avatar's title and launch date of December 7, 2023. Undeterred, Interesting-Squash81 attempted to change the console's date and time, a common trick many have used to bypass date specific restrictions, only for this, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora continued to display the same static screen.

Surprised, many in the comments assumed that Ubisoft has completely locked the game from starting until it downloads a mandatory day one patch or at the very least performing some sort of online verification through servers. It appears that Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora may not be able to be played offline as it needs to make some sort of online connection to download a day one patch. There also appears to be a small message on the box art and digital marketplaces like the Ubisoft Store indicating an internet connection is required to install as well as the creation of a Ubisoft Account.

As is usually the case with situations like this, the discussion comes back to the idea of game preservation and what it means once the servers are deactivated. While there are now countless examples of games requiring an online connection, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora appears to be one of the first that prevents physical edition owners from even accessing the game without downloading a patch first. While the community is no doubt upset at this revelation, it begs the question as to what happens to Avatar once Ubisoft pulls the plug on the game's servers down the road similar to how EA routinely deactivates its older titles like FIFA.

Avatar: Frontiers Of Pandora

Developed by Massive Entertainment and published by Ubisoft, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world game set within James Cameron's popular Avatar universe. The title highlights a new region of Pandora called the Western Frontier.

Platform(s)

PC , PS5 , Xbox Series X , Xbox Series S

Released

December 7, 2023

Developer(s)

Massive Entertainment

Publisher(s)

Ubisoft

Genre(s)

Action-Adventure

See at Ubisoft