Microsoft said Avowed’s delay was not due to quality issues with the game.
Obsidian’s RPG was once scheduled to release this year, but last August Xbox said it would push the title back to February 2025.
Because Microsoft has a relatively large first-party lineup for late 2024, it said at the time that it wanted to “free up player backlogs.”
Spencer discussed the delay in more detail in a new interview with Game File.
“When the Diablo expansions, Black Ops, and Indy (and Great Circle) come out, I can handle it,” he said.
“We didn’t move it because Obsidian needed time. They will use their time.”
Spencer added: “(Xbox Game Studios head) Matt Booty and I came up with a plan and talked to the Game Pass team… We said, ‘Okay, let’s get it going at a better pace.'”
Announced in July 2020, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG set in the world of Eora, originally introduced in Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series.
Game director Carrie Patel said Avowed will be similar in length to The Outer Worlds and will have more than 10 endings.
In the same interview, Spencer expressed his distaste for “manipulative” expansion packs that don’t give players a “unique perspective.”
In a separate Bloomberg interview published today, the executive said Xbox is still open to more acquisitions after acquiring Activision Blizzard for $69 billion last year.
He also said that Xbox wouldn’t rule out its games coming to PS5 or Switch, and that Xbox is developing portable prototypes.
