Avowed’s Launch Exceeds Expectations, Obsidian Expresses Satisfaction With Sales Performance

Avowed, the highly anticipated role-playing game from Obsidian Entertainment, has been officially out for three days, marking the studio’s first major release under Xbox Game Studios. While detailed player concurrency data is expected over the weekend, early reports indicate that Obsidian is pleased with initial sales, according to Game Director Carrie Patel in an interview with Bloomberg.

Obsidian Reflects on Avowed’s Development Journey

During the interview, Patel reflected on the game’s development cycle, particularly the challenges faced when she took over in 2021, leading to a significant reboot of the project.

"I feel like I've learned so much over the past four years that I wish I'd known at the start of this process. It's definitely been a job where the highs are really high and the lows are really low. Normally, if you're stepping back and reevaluating your creative direction, putting together a new vertical slice and revised production plans, you would do that with a very small team. We did not have a very small team at that point. A lot of lessons we learned as we were building Avowed, ideally we would've learned on a small scale with a true preproduction."

From Open World to Open Zones

One of the major shifts in Avowed’s development was scaling back from a Skyrim-style open world to a more structured open-zone format, a design philosophy Obsidian successfully implemented in The Outer Worlds. Patel elaborated on the reasoning behind this decision:

"With any game, you think, 'Ok, we can't climb every mountain - which ones are really worth the effort for us? We knew from The Outer Worlds that we could build a really great game with 'open zones', and that also adds some advantages in terms of letting you really theme your areas more distinctly and intentionally, and provide a sense of progression as the player's going from one environment to the next."

Future of the Avowed Franchise?

While it is too early to determine Microsoft’s long-term plans for Avowed, Patel expressed her enthusiasm for continuing the series, stating:

"Now that we've built this wonderful world, and also built this team strength and muscle memory around the content and gameplay in this world, I'd love to see us do more with it."

Patel previously worked on Pillars of Eternity, meaning her interest likely lies in expanding Avowed’s action-oriented RPG direction, rather than returning to the traditional cRPG format of its predecessor. However, future installments will depend on Microsoft’s assessment of commercial performance and overall player reception.

What’s Next for Obsidian?

Beyond Avowed, Obsidian is currently developing The Outer Worlds 2, which is expected to launch later this year for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S. With two major projects in the works, the studio remains one of Microsoft’s most valuable RPG developers.

With early sales momentum looking strong, could Avowed become Obsidian’s next major franchise? Share your thoughts in the comments!