Tech News
Ubisoft to produce videogame version of Cameron’s Avatar
By Stevie Smith
Jul 25, 2007, 15:28 GMT

Although he may not have helmed a major motion picture since 1997’s watery spectacular Titanic, Academy Award-winning director James Cameron is still considered hot property in Hollywood. Moreover, his eagerly-awaited sci-fi epic "Avatar" has already been snapped up by French publisher Ubisoft regarding an official videogame tie-in.

The hard-hitting videogame publisher and developer, which is already responsible for major software series such as Splinter Cell, Prince of Persia, and Ghost Recon, announced on Tuesday that it has secured a deal with 20th Century Fox to craft a videogame accompaniment to Cameron’s upcoming 3D-based Avatar.

Internet reports are claiming that Ubisoft is also approaching the final stages of a similar tie-in deal with NBC Universal that will see it producing a videogame incarnation of hit television show Heroes. If true, a formal announcement could be revealed at the Comic-Con, which kicks off in San Diego on Thursday July 26.

Ubisoft’s videogame interpretation of Avatar will not arrive as the first film and TV-inspired title the Montreuil-based company has produced over recent years, with Peter Jackson’s King Kong already well received and versions of Beowulf and Lost also in the production pipeline.

"I told the Ubisoft team I wanted them to be free to do their very best work and not think of this as a movie-based game," outlined Avatar writer and director Cameron in a Hollywood Reporter article. "They responded with a fully realized presentation which captured the soul of the world and the characters, while promising to be a knockout game on its own terms. Their passion inspired my confidence that they are going to do something transcendental."

James Cameron’s Avatar is due to hit theatre screens in on Memorial Day of 2009, and the videogame’s production is pencilled in to join it for maximum exposure – which further shows the timeline similarites that now exist between movies and videogames.

"It was very important to [James Cameron] and the rest of us that the universe of 'Avatar' be expanded and give game players opportunities for new experiences," commented the movie’s producer Jon Landau during a Variety report. Landau also outlined that because Avatar is completely digital, its assets can be transferred easily to Ubisoft’s internal development team.

"We have a lot of time to develop this game, which we need, because it’s a big bet for us and will be one of our very top titles that year," enthused Christian Salomon, Ubisoft’s vice president of licensing.

James Cameron’s Avatar will star relative unknowns Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana, along with Sigourney Weaver, who worked with Cameron in 1986 on Aliens. The entirely digital movie will be created on a budget of around $200 million USD. Cameron’s other notable films include Titanic, The Terminator, Terminator 2, The Abyss, and True Lies.