Avowed might have missed sales targets, but Obsidian Entertainment's modest fantasy RPG thankfully found success in other ways.
Obsidian CEO and co-founder Feargus Urquhart recently opened up about how Avowed and sci-fi RPG The Outer Worlds 2 both underwhelmed parent company Microsoft Gaming, at least in terms of how many raw copies each sold. "They're not disasters. I'm not going to say this was a kick in the teeth," he said about the duo. "It was more like: 'That sucks. What are we learning?'"
But Avowed can at least celebrate the fact that it was one of the most-played games across all Xbox devices - the company includes Xbox Series X|S consoles, PC, and cloud streaming in its metrics - according to the Xbox Wire blog.
Xbox this week shared which 2025 games had the "highest single-day active users," alongside three other interesting charts. Avowed surprisingly showed up on the list, beating out much-hyped juggernauts, such as Monster Hunter Wilds, Hollow Knight Silksong, and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. (The latter two also launched into Game Pass on day one.)
Avowed was, somewhat shockingly, one of the only single-player games on the chart as well. Doom: The Dark Ages and The Elder Scrolls 4: Oblivion Remastered were the only other two exclusively single-player games to make the list, alongside your usual suspects - Call of Duty: Black Ops 7, Arc Raiders, Elden Ring Nightreign, and Obsidian's own Grounded 2.
While Avowed might not have been an immediate hit, I'm glad it drove enough interest to splash onto a chart like this. What it lacks in scale it more than makes up for in witty dialogue and frantic first-person combat, and personally, I'm always down for more 20-30-hour RPGs. Perhaps next week's PS5 port can help with those struggling sales, especially as it releases alongside an anniversary update that adds a new weapon, new playable races, and a New Game Plus mode.
"RPGs can be divisive": Obsidian chats all things Avowed – how it overcame the Skyrim comparisons, why there's no Baldur's Gate 3-style romance, and what's next for the 2025 gem
