Avowed is selling 5 days of early access, and in a surprise twist fueled by Xbox buying everyone, Obsidian's RPG is coming to Activision Blizzard's Battle.net

Obsidian's long-awaited fantasy RPG Avowed is now technically launching on February 13, 2025 after a delay pushed it to next year, assuming you're willing to pay $89.99 for the fancy edition with early access. It's also coming to Battle.net, Activision Blizzard's PC launcher, because Xbox is crossing the beams after a bunch of massive acquisitions. 

Xbox opened pre-orders and confirmed the staggered launch in a new blog post. The Avowed Digital Standard Edition is $69.99 (or playable on Game Pass day one) and comes with the regular ol' game. The $89.99 Digital Premium Edition bundles in up to five days of early access, two premium skin packs, and a digital artbook and soundtrack. Finally, the $94.99 Premium Edition Steelbook has all of the Digital Premium Edition content plus a physical map and steelbook case, but only a digital code for the game. 

The skins are split between the Eora Collection Set, inspired by characters from Pillars of Eternity – the original birthplace of Avowed's shared world of Eora – and the Obsidian Collection Set, which features "sleek, black outfits that bring a stylish look to your companions, inspired by our very own studio." 

You'll have the option to upgrade to the digital premium edition for $24.99 a la carte just to get the digital goodies if you want, but obviously the early access is only good if you cash in early. 

Pre-order incentives and early launches are common enough; the separate blog post from Blizzard, which confirms Avowed's impending Battle.net launch, is arguably the real head-turner in this packet of news. 

Avowed will be the first non-Activision Blizzard game to come to Battle.net since Microsoft acquired the company in the biggest acquisition in games industry history. It's also one of the very few games to ever come to the launcher from outside a direct Activision or Blizzard studio. Destiny 2's brief stay on Battle.net comes to mind, but that was back when Bungie was still partnered with Activision, so we're just splitting hairs either way. 

You will, of course, still be able to play Avowed on Xbox or through Steam or the PC Xbox app, but a Battle.net option for this Obsidian-developed game is the kind of company smoothie that really puts a new spotlight on Microsoft's corporate spending spree. 

Here's the true irony of all this. Avowed was purportedly delayed to "give players' backlogs some breathing room," but its paid early access launch now puts it out one day before Assassin's Creed Shadows drops on February 14, and its standard release date still falls on the week before Monster Hunter Wilds hits on February 28. Games industry, we gotta talk about February 2025. This is just getting silly now.  

Avowed wasn't delayed "because Obsidian needed the time" to improve the RPG, but rather because "they'll use the time."