Microsoft Is Reportedly ‘Happy With’ Avowed Sales So Far – Forbes
AvowedIt is always extremely difficult to judge whether the release of any Xbox game is a hit, given obscured sales numbers and the question mark of day one Game Pass launches. The only hard numbers we have to go on are Steam concurrents/sales list, and that can only tell us so much.However, there’s a lengthy chat with Obsidian in Jason Schreier’s recent Bloomberg newsletter talking about many aspects of the game, and surprisingly, a comment on how it’s going reception-wise and sales-wise.Schreier says that Avowed seemed to be “worth the wait” for Obsidian, and that “players have raved about the game, and the company said it is happy with sales so far.”The company being Microsoft, and that’s a good sign, given that it’s totally unclear what expectations were for a smaller scale RPG like this, and if we’re talking “sales,” that would be outside Game Pass subscription players, most likely. The Steam numbers we do have show probably a 20,000 or so concurrent peak by the end of the weekend here, similar to its last game, The Outer Worlds, which did not have a Game Pass launch (but it did have a PlayStation one). It also topped Steam sales charts for a time at/near launch. It’s still in the top 10 right now.AvowedAs for players “raving” about the game, mm sort of. I guess it depends what a “rave” is, but it does have a 78% “Mostly Positive” rating on Steam, though a lower 3.2 out of 5 on the Xbox store. The game has an 80 from critics on Metacritic (lower than most past Obsidian games) and a 6.6/10 user score. But that’s a platform that does not require a purchase to rate, and Avowed has been the center of the industry’s latest culture ware controversy over “woke” accusations.It’s true, I have seen individual users on social media saving they positively love the game, but if we’re talking “overall” ratings, I’m not sure I’d consider it a total smash hit in that department.Still, if Microsoft is happy, that’s really all that matters in the end. Obsidian is also releasing The Outer Worlds 2 this year, somehow, and I do believe Microsoft very much values the studio as it has the ability to make good, cheaper, shorter games more often than other super AAA studios that may take say, 10 years to make a new fantasy RPG.So, this does seem to be a happy ending here for the team, even if sure, maybe it would like to see things a few points higher on all fronts. We’ll see how The Outer Worlds 2 goes later this year, and maybe if there’s more to come in the future for Avowed itself, be it DLC or a sequel.Follow me on Twitter, YouTube, Bluesky and Instagram.Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
