Summary
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has explained the reasoning behindAvowed’s delay, stating that the upcoming action role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment wasn’t pushed back to give the studio more time, but rather to pace out the number of games coming to Xbox’s lucrative Game Pass service.Avowedwill be the next big RPG to come from thePillars of Eternitystudio, and was originally scheduled to launch in Fall 2024 before being pushed back to July 11, 2025.
Back in August, the official Xbox Twitter account confirmed thatAvowedwas being delayed to 2025. At the time, the studio said that the decision was to give players' backlogs some breathing room due to the immense number of massive titles coming to both Xbox consoles and its Game Pass service. From massive expansions such asDiablo 4: Vessel of HatredandStarfield: Shattered Spaceto fully-fledged sequels likeMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024andCall of Duty: Black Ops 6,Xbox fans have plenty of games to check out before 2024 comes to a close.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Explains Avowed Delay
In a new interview withGame File(viaVGC), Phil Spencer discussedAvowed’s delay in more detail, explaining that the studio can “afford” to push Obsidian’s highly anticipated ARPG into 2025 when titles likeBlack Ops 6, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, andDiablo 4’s massive expansionare all set to release in the same year. “We didn’t move it because Obsidian needed the time. They’ll use the time,” Spencer said. He then added that he and Matt Booty, the head of Xbox Game Studios, sat down and planned out all of the massive releases with the Game Pass team and decided to “pace this out a little better.”
So whileAvowed’s delay is disappointing for fans, there’s still plenty for gamers to jump into. And, as noted by Spencer, Obsidian will be using the extra months of development time to further polish and enhance its upcoming title before February 18 rolls around. However, fans were recently left concerned after two of the studio’s developers said performance is “one of the last things” that Obsidian will focus on, leading many to believeAvowedwill not feature a 60 FPS modeas one of the developers said that the team is aiming for a “bare minimum” of 30 FPS.
Avowed
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?
