Phil Spencer, Xbox’s big boss, recently made a seemingly reassuring statement about the postponement of Obsidian Entertainment’s next big RPG, Avowed.
Let’s remember that Avowed was originally supposed to be released in November 2024. However, the few appearances at Xbox events had not completely convinced the audience, especially in terms of gameplay. The postponement on PC, Xbox Series and Game Pass to February 18, 2025 could therefore indicate that the rather long development did not go as planned. However, if you believe the head of Microsoft Gaming, Phil Spencer, this would not be the case.
Phil Spencer confessed reasons for delaying Obsidian’s next RPG
First announced in 2020, Avowed appeared to be a very ambitious first-person open-world RPG, with a story entirely driven by our choices and featuring no less than ten different endings. The goal of the development of the talented studio Obsidian Entertainment was to offer an experience like The Elder Scrolls in the fantastic universe of Pillars of Eternity, a series of C-RPGs that are a living homage to BioWare’s cult Baldur’s Gate. The first presentations of the game’s gameplay still weren’t met with much enthusiasm. The fights actually seemed rather sluggish and confusing. Unfortunately, our first current encounter with the game did not enable us to completely dispel these doubts.
Delaying Avowed’s release by three months therefore sent a potentially worrying signal, suggesting that the game isn’t ready yet. The reason for this decision would be completely different, according to Phil Spencer in an interview with Game File. “ We didn’t delay the release to give Obsidian time, but rather to reduce the backlog of our players. We can afford it with Vessel of Hatred for Diablo 4, then Call of Duty Black Ops 6 and finally Indiana Jones and the Ancient Circle to end the year ».
A very busy player backlog in February
Avowed will be released on February 18th for PC and Xbox Series to fill Xbox Game Studios’ calendar with big regular releases. However, this obviously does not reduce the gap in players from all walks of life. Let’s remember that in the same month of February other very big pieces will be released: Assassin’s Creed Shadows, Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 and especially Monster Hunter Wilds. Will Obsidian Entertainment’s role-playing game manage to prevail against such tough competition? Answer in three months.
Source: Game file
