Support NeoGAF

[IbizaPocholo]

Ubisoft Massive's Future Games Could Include Monetization

Ubisoft's upcoming Avatar and Star Wars games could feature monetization, according to a job posting from Massive Entertainment

exputer.com

Massive Entertainment, a Ubisoft studio is hard at work developing 2 AAA titles. The first is Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, a game set in James Cameron’s Avatar universe. The second is an untitled open-world narrative Star Wars game. Massive also developed Far Cry 3 as well as The Division Series.

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora has been in development since 2017 and is set to release sometime this year. Ubisoft‘s partnership with Lucasfilm to create a Star Wars game was announced in 2021, with more news to follow this year.

According to a job posting, Ubisoft may be looking for ways to monetize its upcoming titles.

---

Key Takeaways

• Massive Entertainment is currently developing an Avatar and Star Wars game
• These games could feature monetization in some form
• A job posting was listed for a monetization specialist to help boost profitability from Massive’s games

---

The job posting for a monetization specialist was listed around 2 weeks ago. According to the job posting, “Monetization Specialists at Ubisoft contribute to the financial success of our games, shaping strategies that boost profitability while respecting our players and the essence of each game.”

The position has multiple responsibilities, including:

• Monitor the monetization strategies and acquisition, engagement, and monetization KPIs of 3 Ubisoft projects.
• Perform ad hoc analysis to improve recommendations to projects.
• Partner with the project’s monetization director to develop monetization strategies aligned with player expectations and the creative & game directions.
• Work closely with game economy designers to come up with justified pricing for items, events, and services.
• Plan and oversee the content, promotions, and offers of the primary and secondary stores with the digital sales teams.
• Collaborate with interdependent teams (like UI, UX, programming, etc.) to implement your monetization systems and features.
• Follow up on monetization features and adapt them based on player feedback, reporting results, etc.

The job posting implies that the candidate will work on upcoming Massive games including Avatar and Star Wars.

“At Massive, you get to do what you love most while bringing your own experience to our ongoing projects, like Tom Clancy’s The Division 2, Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and The Star Wars Project. We’re also developing new tech here, such as our in-house engine Snowdrop, and Ubisoft Connect – Ubisoft’s digital ecosystem and distribution platform.”

Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is an open-world experience set in James Cameron’s Avatar universe and developed by Ubisoft Massive. With the popularity of Avatar: The Way of Water and its success at the box office, Frontiers of Pandora has strong legs to stand on as people regain their interest in the Avatar universe.

Frontiers of Pandora is set around a year before Avatar: The Way of Water. The game takes place sometime between the 1-year flashback from the beginning of the film and the events of the movie.

It is likely any microtransactions would be cosmetics as they are in many Ubisoft titles. There will be no multiplayer component in Frontiers of Pandora so any MTX couldn’t be related to Battle Passes or virtual currencies.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Cunts

 

[mitch1971]

Many players will fall for the Jedi mind trick.

 

[StreetsofBeige]

More like [Ubisoft planning Massive monetization in upcoming Avatar and Star Wars games]

 

[Esca]

I'd be more surprised if they didn't have monetization in an ubi game

 

[Chiggs]

Can’t wait for Frontiers of Pandora…and I can’t wait to be lectured by a bunch of sanctimonious pricks as to why I’m part of what’s wrong with modern gaming.

Bring on the whining and crying!

 

[angrod14]

According to the job posting, “Monetization Specialists at Ubisoft contribute to the financial success of our games, shaping strategies that boost profitability while respecting our players and the essence of each game.”

Their shit isn't even worth my time. Wouldn't play it if they payed me to do so.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

"Dev's who don't integrate microtransactions are idiots." - John Riccitiello

 

[Jaybe]

Input credit card details to save Pandora

 

[LordCBH]

Didn’t realize Massive was making this. So they aren’t doing a Division 3 then…dang

 

[Ozzie666]

I honestly don't see how triple A gaming can sustain itself with each generation and resources required for each title. Current financial models don't seem to be enough to generate required returns.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

understandable

 

[dotnotbot]

Avatar dating sim or bust

 

[Kacho]

Ubisoft has been on the path of becoming the next EA for a while now. Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to their decisions.

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Cunts

cunts money hand over fist.

 

[Heisenberg007]

I don't even care at this point, just release that Avatar game!

 

[dotnotbot]

Ubisoft has been on the path of becoming the next EA for a while now. Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to their decisions.

They've been a lot worse than EA in my book for a long time. At least EA seems to be realising lately that high budget SP games are still worth it.

 

[Fahdis]

Thanks to all you c*nts buying Horse Armor all those years ago. This is now our reality!

 

[demonstr8]

I don’t think there is a single game that Ubisoft could put out for the foreseeable future that I could ever choose to play.

 

[Danjin44]

 

[Kacho]

They've been a lot worse than EA in my book for a long time. At least EA seems to be realising lately that high budget SP games are still worth it.

Yeah for sure. They took a risk with Fallen Order and it paid off. Now we’re getting a sequel and a Dead Space remake. At least they’re trying.

Ubisoft seems like they’re desperate for a live service mega hit or something, I really don’t know what their deal is. They’re cramming MTX in their traditional single player experiences on top of trend chasing multiplayer games that fail to find an audience.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Here's a simple answer to all you keyboard warriors. Don't buy the content. I for one, can't wait for the game

 

[ADiTAR]

Yeah for sure. They took a risk with Fallen Order and it paid off. Now we’re getting a sequel and a Dead Space remake. At least they’re trying.

Very risky to base a game on an unknown IP like Star Wars.

Teams are massive these days, bloated probably, so it makes sense they need to find avenues for profits. I don't view it as the end of all things, you don't have to buy things if you don't want to buy things.

 

[Warablo]

I feel like Ubisoft always have interesting games but they can never fully realize them.

 

[Kacho]

Very risky to base a game on an unknown IP like Star Wars.

Teams are massive these days, bloated probably, so it makes sense they need to find avenues for profits. I don't view it as the end of all things, you don't have to buy things if you don't want to buy things.

Don’t be daft. It was a risk for EA to fund a single player AAA game without micro transactions or DLC. That’s a rarity theee days and it exceeded their expectations which is why we’re getting more.

 

[dottme]

there was some potential for this Avatar game. I was worried with Ubisoft behind it but it looks like there isn't a lot to expect anymore from it.

 

[semiconscious]

Didn’t realize Massive was making this. So they aren’t doing a Division 3 then…dang

same. not really looking for more division (loved the first, disliked the second), but these guys are too clever/imaginative to be working within other people's franchises. was looking forward to something new. this is disappointing...

 

[The Stig]

Very risky to base a game on an unknown IP like Star Wars.

Teams are massive these days, bloated probably, so it makes sense they need to find avenues for profits. I don't view it as the end of all things, you don't have to buy things if you don't want to buy things.

 

[UniformDeliverance]

This is the developer of The Division. I have assumed that any games they make will be live service games.

So I mean. Yeah of course these will include microtransactions.

 

[Nvzman]

I honestly don't see how triple A gaming can sustain itself with each generation and resources required for each title. Current financial models don't seem to be enough to generate required returns.

Considering most recent games of this scale are flopping spectacularly idk when the fuck it will end.
If the gaming industry keeps this up we will approach another video game crash, mark my words.

 

[Jim Ryan other Clone]

Why is this a problem? Ubisoft MTX is fine, it's a single player game and has some skins as buyable option and boosts to get XP, Gold etc. Nothing that deteriorates the gameplay.

 

[Ozriel]

Knee jerk opposition to MTX without knowing the genre of the game etc is weird.
If it’s a big AAA MP live service game, you literally can’t make them without some monetization included.

 

[Patrick S.]

A manager that develops strategies to squeeze every penny possible out of gamers while barely escaping customer outrage. Fuck this industry, man.

 

[Kagey K]

I can't think of one AAA game that didn't have monetization planned in recent years.

From deluxe editions to DLC. As a consumer you have to decide if that content is worth the extra money to you. And act accordingly.

 

[Neolombax]

The Division 2 had monetization although it is cosmetics only. They also had some paid expansions. There was no reason to not expect any monetization really.

 

[GymWolf]

When even ubisoft star wars is probably better than current star wars you know we are living in the darkest timeline.

Brace yourselfs young padawans.

 

[mxbison]

Here's a simple answer to all you keyboard warriors. Don't buy the content. I for one, can't wait for the game

Yeah, how dare you be upset about mtx in singleplayer games.

Paying extra to unlock stuff that's already finished and on the disc you bought.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Yeah, how dare you be upset about mtx in singleplayer games.

Paying extra to unlock stuff that's already finished and on the disc you bought.

I had no issues with it in The Division 2. If people want to buy content that's up for them. I was more than happy with what was in the game

 

[WhamBamThankYouMaam]

Yeah, I will just issue a wide ”pass” to those games.

 

[ProtoByte]

They should be able to make more than enough money off sales alone. This being Massive though, you can understand the lack of confidence.

 

[Bumblebeetuna]

 

[nightmare-slain]

Cunts

so are the people who buy them i'm not defending Ubisoft, well kinda, but they are only doing this because people will buy it. they are out to make money so kinda can't blame them.

if anyone has a problem with the games don't buy them. simple. if you do buy it then don't go online crying. you're the problem.

 

[MMaRsu]

its

so are the people who buy them i'm not defending Ubisoft, well kinda, but they are only doing this because people will buy it. they are out to make money so kinda can't blame them.

if anyone has a problem with the games don't buy them. simple. if you do buy it then don't go online crying. you're the problem.

If they dont put em in who can buy it?

 

[winjer]

Fuck Ubisoft

 

[Braag]

I launched Valhalla few days ago, I've not touched the game for 1.5 years. The in-game shop had more items on sale for real money than what you can get in game just exploring the world.
So this isn't surprising, Ubi loves mtx.

 

[shiru]

Here's a simple answer to all you keyboard warriors. Don't buy the content. I for one, can't wait for the game

Such a brave gamer

 

[Big Baller]

 

[Sentenza]

I should be livid about this shit, but in the end over time I came to terms with the fact that most of the "monetized" goodies these service offer are absolutely pointless shit and you are rarely missing out on anything meaningfull.

This just speaking in general. In this case we are even talking about Ubisoft, which adds a layer of "I don't give a fuck about what these people do, anyway".

 

[digoutyoursoul]

so are the people who buy them i'm not defending Ubisoft, well kinda, but they are only doing this because people will buy it. they are out to make money so kinda can't blame them.

if anyone has a problem with the games don't buy them. simple. if you do buy it then don't go online crying. you're the problem.

I don’t buy them. Voting with your wallet is the best way .

 

[Exede]

Grind like stupid or buy XP booster 2.0 incoming