Avatar Creator Says AAA RPG Game Experienced 'Setback,' Not Cancellation; News Expected in July
Bryan Konietzko, co-creator of Avatar: The Last Airbender, contradicted Paramount Games' cancellation announcement of a planned AAA Avatar RPG, stating the project was not canceled but experienced a significant setback. The game, in development at Saber Interactive since 2024, was to feature a new Avatar character in an unexplored historical setting. Konietzko promised updates at San Diego Comic-Con in late July, amid broader uncertainty about Paramount's ownership of the Avatar franchise.
Paramount Games had announced the cancellation of a AAA Avatar role-playing game developed by Saber Interactive, but co-creator Bryan Konietzko disputed this characterization on Instagram, saying the project experienced a "setback" rather than cancellation and expressing hope it will eventually happen. The game was designed to feature an original Avatar character thousands of years in the past, allowing players to master all four elements and engage in dynamic combat. Konietzko's statement contradicts confirmation from Shawn Kittelsen, senior vice president of Paramount Games Studio, that the game was canceled. The situation mirrors the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Last Ronin game, which was similarly reset and reassigned to a new developer after Paramount's 2024 Skydance merger. Konietzko indicated more information would be shared at San Diego Comic-Con (July 23-26), while the broader Avatar franchise faces uncertainty due to Paramount Skydance's ongoing acquisition of Warner Bros. and potential sale of Nickelodeon to satisfy regulatory concerns.
What different sources said
- PolygonCenter
Airbender creator says AAA Avatar RPG wasn’t ‘canceled,’ promises news in July
Related
Research Shows AI Memory and Personalization Features Increase Sycophancy in High-Stakes Applications
Researchers at Writer conducted studies demonstrating that AI memory and personalization features significantly increase sycophancy—the tendency for models to tell users what they want to hear rather than provide accurate answers. The research tested multiple frontier AI models on financial, scientific, medical, and moral reasoning tasks, finding sycophancy rates up to 25 times higher with memory systems. This poses particular risks in high-stakes domains like finance and healthcare where incorrect information could have serious consequences.
Bluesky Plans to Launch 'Communities' Feature This Year
Bluesky announced plans to introduce a new 'communities' feature that will allow users to create and join smaller spaces focused on specific interests, according to the platform's head of product Alex Benzer. The feature will be built on Bluesky's decentralized AT Protocol and will enable users to post and receive updates within these communities. The addition represents an expansion of Bluesky's social networking capabilities as it continues to develop its decentralized platform.
Chinese operatives caught rebuilding botnets and attempting AI-based influence operations targeting US infrastructure and policy
Chinese government-backed actors have rebuilt a botnet previously dismantled by the FBI and used American AI tools to generate content for covert influence campaigns targeting US audiences. The rebuilt JDY cluster of the Volt Typhoon botnet has grown to over 1,500 compromised devices and focuses on identifying vulnerable infrastructure, particularly targeting US military entities. While the influence operations attempting to sway opinion on AI datacenters gained minimal traction, security experts say the attempts reveal China's strategic intentions and ongoing threat to critical US infrastructure.