Avatar, Skull & Bones, and Mario + Rabbids get narrower release windows

gamepur.com:

The last we heard about launch dates for Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, Skull & Bones, and Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope, Ubisoft was planning to release all three by the end of March 2023 — the deadline for fiscal year 2022. That window still has the same end date, but it’s now been narrowed from the other direction. We won’t see any of those three games until October 1 of this year.

The March 2023 end date is still locked in, as per Ubisoft’s fiscal year 2021 earnings report, which was just published. In the accompanying earnings call (via VGC), chief corporate finance officer Frédérick Duguet added that the trio of games would release in the second half of the current fiscal year. That gives us October 1 as the start date for the new release window. December would specifically be a good month for Frontiers of Pandora to arrive, as James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water will come to theaters that month, on December 16.

We’ve barely heard a peep about that game to date, but we have seen some footage from Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope. The Kingdom Battle sequel got a gameplay demo last summer, which introduced Rosalina and her Rabbid counterpart. The follow-up seems to be taking cues from Super Mario Galaxy in that respect. As for Skull & Bones, the pirate ship game has been the subject of numerous insider reports. Leaked gameplay from just a month ago showed exploration, customization, and combat on the high seas.

Notably, all three titles in this story are said to be part of a “massive showcase” that Ubisoft is planning. As the summer months draw near in many parts of the world, there’s a good chance that the company is gearing up for another Ubisoft Forward event. That would be an ideal place to announce exact