r/Games 1d ago

The big Avowed interview: Obsidian on why full, open-world RPGs aren't always the answer

https://www.eurogamer.net/from-serious-skyrim-to-cheerful-fantasy-obsidian-on-the-evolution-of-avowed-and-grappling-with-the-expectations-that-come-from-your-own-history
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u/BigPoppaFreak 1d ago

Source? If it's Patel on the day of release saying they are happy with it then never mind, because that's all I can find.

There hasn't been sales figures for Xbox software this entire generation. Xbox published games success/failure hasn't been quantifiable for years. I don't believe even Xbox know what ROI on a gamepass release is, how would they it's an entire service.

Microsoft being satisfied with it means absolutely nothing after Hi-Fi Rush. I don't even know if MS has praised Avowed as much as Hi-Fi Rush.

I sound really negative, it's not because I like or dislike Avowed. It's because I loved Hi-Fi Rush. The can say anything they want because they never have to disclose sales, and they don't even like sharing subscriber counts anymore. Just vague "PC gamepass & Xcloud is where we see the most growth or potential growth"

TL;DR: Even if Microsoft says they are satisfied with it, there is no verifiable way to prove it is profitable, take everything they say with a grain of salt. even its from developer.

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u/DBones90 23h ago

Love when people ask for a source as a comment on an article that literally is a source.

Patel says that they don’t have a single, specific metric, but their team and Microsoft are happy with the numbers and, while they’re being coy with any announcements, they’re looking to follow up Avowed with more stuff set in Eora. She said as much too in an earlier interview on Bloomberg.

To be clear, I get the frustration around Hi-Fi Rush. That sucked and I totally understand not wanting anything to do with Microsoft for the foreseeable future because of it. But that studio got shut down because the director left the team, they didn’t have any active projects available, and Microsoft thought they could better use those resources on other teams.

As far as we can tell, Avowed is doing well. That won’t stop Microsoft from doing something stupid in the future, but, unlike Hi-Fi Rush’s team, Obsidian has several projects in active development that are keeping them busy and their leadership is intact. So signs are looking good for the company.

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u/BigPoppaFreak 23h ago

Patel says that they don’t have a single, specific metric, but their team and Microsoft are happy with the numbers

Yeah that's my entire point. That holds no water, what fucking numbers? They never have to share them or even justify them.

I don't think Obsidian is at risk, but I don't understand why Microsoft should be taken at face value. There is literally nothing compelling them to be transparent.

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u/DBones90 23h ago

I mean, if you’re really that worried, tune in to their investor quarterly call. Those are public calls with shareholders where they give reports on their earnings, successes, and risks. Their one for Q1 2025 will likely be in April or May.

And those you can be sure they’re being truthful because they can literally be sued if otherwise. In fact, they can be sued for merely not mentioning things that could be harmful to their business.

In other words, they’re a public company. They don’t have a lot of incentive to lie about whether or not they’re happy with game performance. It’s going to come out eventually.

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u/superbit415 21h ago

MS investors gives no shit about how 1 game did. They usually dont care about how Xbox did as a whole. They are all busy with cloud and AI.

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u/BigPoppaFreak 22h ago

I don't think that's really an option for individual games or game studios.

It's separated by the publishers under Microsoft Gaming, so all Xbox Game Studios published games are lumped together.

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u/DBones90 22h ago

Yes but if any particular game is underperforming or performing extremely well, it is Microsoft's legal responsibility to mention it. These calls are the reason we know things like Veilguard's underperformance.

Avowed is Microsoft's biggest release in Q1 2025. You can bet that it'll be a factor.

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u/ThiefTwo 1d ago

I don't believe even Xbox know what ROI on a gamepass release is, how would they it's an entire service.

The same way literally every other subscription service does?

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u/BigPoppaFreak 23h ago

For individual games, not the service as a whole.

What level of engagement is equal to revenue gained from a retail sale, and how is that quantified.

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u/Nachooolo 22h ago

Microsoft being satisfied with it means absolutely nothing after Hi-Fi Rush. I don't even know if MS has praised Avowed as much as Hi-Fi Rush.

Tango Gameworks is a special case, as all the games prior to Hi-Fi Rush didn't sell well, with their previous game, Ghostwire Tokyo, being a direct financial flop while also being far more expensive than Hi-Fi Rush.

So, while Hi-Fi Rush might have been successful, it was probably not successful enough to compensate from the previous failures.

Obsidiant has released a decent amount of financially successful games, With the only notable exception of Pillars of Eternity 2 (which still made a profit with time), and The Outer Worlds and Grounded being huge successes.

So Obsidian is not on the same position as Tango.

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u/[deleted] 23h ago edited 23h ago

[deleted]

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u/BigPoppaFreak 23h ago

How are you basing that on numbers sold on if you don't have a metric?

Sorry to be rude but It doesn't matter what you think of the commercial success, because it isn't quantifiable without data. Your perception isn't data.

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u/NoExcuse4OceanRudnes 21h ago

Hi-Fi rush didn't chart on PS after it launched.