Ubisoft uncorks virtual E3 with "Avatar", "Rainbow Six" and "Far Cry 6"
"Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora", "Rainbow Six Extraction", "Far Cry 6", "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope" and "Riders Republic" were the main courses on Ubisoft's menu for E3, which uncorked its 2021 virtual edition on Saturday after skipping the previous year because of the pandemic.
The French developer has stood out in recent years for delivering some of the most original and fun events at E3, which is the most important global video game trade show.
On this occasion, Ubisoft's big news came right at the end of its presentation with the announcement of "Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora", a game inspired by the film saga that James Cameron started with "Avatar" (2009).
The film is the highest-grossing film in history (excluding inflation) with a gross of $2.847 billion.
It was already known that Ubisoft and Cameron were working together on a game, but at E3 the name of this title was revealed, a trailer featuring spectacular aerial combat between the inhabitants of Pandora and the invading humans, and it will be released in 2022.
In December of the same year, Cameron is scheduled to release the first of four planned sequels to "Avatar".
The announcement of "Avatar Frontiers of Pandora" capped off a Ubisoft event that lived up to pre-E3 hype by devoting much of its time to "Rainbow Six Extraction" and "Far Cry 6".
The new instalment in the "Rainbow Six" action series will be released on 16 September and will offer a single-player or co-op adventure in a world overrun by terrifying aliens.
Ubisoft unveiled in the teaser trailer for "Rainbow Six Extraction" two locations ravaged by these alien creatures: San Francisco and Alaska.
The company not only presented a trailer about a dangerous rescue mission, but also showed a few minutes of live-action footage from "Rainbow Six Extraction" highlighting the game's multiplayer capabilities.
On the other hand, Ubisoft shared new footage of "Far Cry 6", the game in which the villain has the appearance and voice of actor Giancarlo Esposito.
Well known for his portrayals of bad guys in the series "Breaking Bad", "The Mandalorian" or "The Boys", Esposito, in an admirable hyper-realistic recreation by Ubisoft, plays here Anton Castillo, the dictator of a fictional, Hispanic and Caribbean country called Yara.
In the trailer shown at E3, Castillo catches his son Diego trying to escape and mercilessly kills all those who helped him in his escape.
"Far Cry 6" will be released on 7 October.
After launching "Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Battle" four years ago, Ubisoft will continue its important partnership with Nintendo in "Mario + Rabbids Sparks of Hope".
This new title, which will once again cross paths between Nintendo's "Super Mario" characters and Ubisoft's Rabbids, will be released in 2022 for the Nintendo Switch hybrid console.
In a less innocent but very exciting universe is "Riders Republic", which brings together multiple outdoor adventure experiences in a single video game.
"Snowboarding, mountain biking and hang gliding are just some of the possibilities offered by this game, which will be launched on 2 September and is aimed at lovers of adventure sports and takes them to snow-capped mountains and desert landscapes.
Ubisoft also showed at its event the new game in its "Just Dance" series, which under the name "Just Dance 2022" will be released on 4 November; as well as an expansion to "Assassin's Creed Valhalla" (2020) entitled "Siege of Paris".
Ubisoft president Yves Guillemot extolled his company's "fantastic" and "diverse" catalogue for the imminent future.
He also had words of praise for Ubisoft's employees. "I am overwhelmed by their resilience, energy and collaboration, especially during this challenging year," he said of the pandemic.
In this regard, Guillemot said he was "proud" of the video game industry, which is able to "bring together millions of gamers" around the world for moments of joy and remembrance. "This is one of the real powers of video games," he said.
