Avatar The Game is one of the more recent examples of movie games that suck, and Ubisoft's release strategy for the title, releasing it a full two weeks before the movie, was also criticized. It didn't help matters that game reviewers lambasted the title, netting it a 60 on Metacritic.
Furthermore, Avatar Producer Jon Landau noted that Fox didn't understand Ubisoft's need to release a trailer earlier to help build the hype for the game, and sales dipped noticeably after the holidays, according to Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot. Having said all that, the game's sales really aren't all that bad. In fact, with the hype surrounding the movie's DVD release, game sales have picked up again. Sterne Agee analyst Arvind Bhatia has indicated that sales of the title now stand at nearly 2.7 million units.
It just goes to show that having a very hot license can still be a huge advantage, even if game quality ultimately is mediocre at best.
