Summary

  • Avowed's delay was to balance out the number of games on Xbox's Game Pass service, according to Phil Spencer.
  • The delay allows Obsidian to further polish the game before its February 18, 2025 release.
  • Spencer says Obsidian didn't need the additional time, but noted that "they'll use the time."

Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has explained the reasoning behind Avowed'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. Avowed will be the next big RPG to come from the Pillars of Eternity studio, and was originally scheduled to launch in Fall 2024 before being pushed back to February 18, 2025.

Back in August, the official Xbox Twitter account confirmed that Avowed was 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 as Diablo 4: Vessel of Hatred and Starfield: Shattered Space to fully-fledged sequels like Microsoft Flight Simulator 2024 and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, Xbox fans have plenty of games to check out before 2024 comes to a close.

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Avowed's Placement on the Timeline Explained

With Avowed bringing Pillars of Eternity's world of Eora into the action RPG genre, the era of the lore's history it depicts is a crucial detail.

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Microsoft Gaming CEO Explains Avowed Delay

In a new interview with Game File (via VGC), Phil Spencer discussed Avowed's delay in more detail, explaining that the studio can "afford" to push Obsidian's highly anticipated ARPG into 2025 when titles like Black Ops 6, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, and Diablo 4's massive expansion are 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."

With Avowed coming to Xbox Game Pass on day one, it's no surprise that Spencer and Booty have opted to push the release back by a few months, given the incredible line-up of triple-a titles being released on the service right now. One of the most recent additions was Black Ops 6, which became the first Call of Duty title to be released on Game Pass on day one. According to Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella, the shooter has been a huge success for the service, achieving a new record for day-one players and for new Game Pass subscribers.

So while Avowed'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 believe Avowed will not feature a 60 FPS mode as one of the developers said that the team is aiming for a "bare minimum" of 30 FPS.

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7 /10

Avowed
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Action RPG
Adventure
RPG
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Systems
Xbox-1 PC-1
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Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 82%
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Released
February 18, 2025
ESRB
Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence
Developer(s)
Obsidian Entertainment
Publisher(s)
Xbox Game Studios
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WHERE TO PLAY

SUBSCRIPTION
DIGITAL
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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?

Engine
Unreal Engine 5
Franchise
Pillars of Eternity
Genre(s)
Action RPG, Adventure, RPG