Angry Avatar Legends players call the game a 'rug pull' with key modes missing at launch

Avatar Legends: The Fighting Game launched yesterday, letting players experience the first Avatar video game that actually has good gameplay. Unfortunately, many features around those excellent core fights are currently severely undercooked. Modes advertised days before release aren’t in the game yet, and players are very pissed, with some comparing it to an unadvertised Early Access launch. The game is currently sitting at a 73% Mostly Positive rating on Steam, with the reviews praising its central battles while criticizing almost everything else.

Perhaps the biggest problem is that Avatar Legends currently lacks a ranked mode, something that is more or less essential in a genre where skilled players can demolish newbies. Having played the game at launch, the skill level among those duking it out online seems quite high, with many players clearly having either spent the entire day in the lab or participated in the game’s previous beta tests. Fighting games need a healthy online community to remain playable, so many are worried that this brutal introduction will scare away new players and threaten the long-term health of the game. "It was advertised that there would be a ranked mode. I hate rug pulls, what's the point," one user on Reddit posted.

Another major issue is that the add-ons that users paid for as part of the game’s Deluxe Edition, which is $49.99 compared to the Standard Edition’s $29.99, aren’t currently in the game. This version was supposed to come with unique HUDs, a digital artbook, and the soundtrack. The Samurai Appa cosmetic, included as a pre-order bonus, also isn’t there.

The game currently lacks a spectator mode, something that is particularly important for tournaments, as it allows organizers to stream matches easily. As a result, events like Avatar Legends' bracket at Tampa Never Sleeps have been postponed.

If these problems weren’t enough, there were many known issues going into launch. Just a few hours before release, Avatar Legends' Xbox port was delayed until September, and it was announced that the Nintendo Switch version wouldn’t initially have crossplay, siloing it from the rest of the game’s community. As for other known problems, several characters lack their final animations, and the game’s tutorials are quite flawed. After it launched, players discovered that the Nintendo Switch version is currently several builds behind, while PlayStation 5 players have reported performance issues. Some are running into controller problems, with poor keyboard support and an apparent lack of legacy controller support on PS5.

The Avatar Legends team has acknowledged many of these problems, and yesterday released a roadmap to fixing the game. In addition to ranked and spectator modes, they promised a Beginner’s Zone, casual modes, new tutorials, and combo trials. At San Diego Comic-Con, they also announced a free Year One DLC character, Tagah from the upcoming movie Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender.

At a glance, the game may have been rushed so that it could launch alongside Avatar Aang: The Last Airbender, which is out July 25. The July 23 release date was chosen so that the previously mentioned crossover for the film could be announced at Comic-Con.

It's an unfortunate situation. Avatar Legends’ central gameplay is genuinely brilliant and has satisfying layers of strategy. Judged purely on its one-versus-one battles, it may be one of the best genre entries in years, with even some newcomers finding fun in its complex fights. Critics have generally been positive, although most reviews bring up the many previously mentioned shortcomings.

Despite the many gaffes, it launched to a healthy peak of over 12,000 current players on Steam alone. Normally, those numbers would be enough to support one-versus-one matches for some time, but the brutal rollout could lead to problems. For instance, another tie-in fighting game, Invincible VS, opened with around 8,000 players on Steam before falling to a recent 24-hour concurrent player count of 88. Avatar Legends arguably has much stronger gameplay of the two, but hopefully these release woes don’t lead to that kind of fall-off.