As we wade through Xbox’s “any first party game, any time can come to PS5” approach to this generation, that obviously raises questions about the games that have not yet made it to its rival console. Most recently, that would be Avowed.
Avowed is the new AA-ish RPG from Obsidian, creator of Fallout: New Vegas and The Outer Worlds. It was received decently well, though its 80 score is not as good as it could be for what is likely going to be the largest “true exclusive” on Xbox this year, now that Fable has been delayed (of course it was). But should it stay exclusive?
It’s a fair question to ask as Microsoft has repeatedly said that nothing is off the table. If Master Chief and Marcus Fenix aren’t, why should Avowed be?
Avowed has not been announced as heading to PS5. Not on a time delay, not at all. But will it? And when? Is it time now, based on how the game performed? While PS5 fans may be looking to celebrate a “win” by having Avowed head over (plus you know, the ability to play a pretty great game), I have my doubts about Microsoft giving this one away, at least so soon. Here’s the case for and against:
AGAINST
- It’s one thing when you announce pretty early on that something is going to be on a time delay (Indiana Jones) or same day launch (DOOM: The Dark Ages), but it would be another to spring it on fans that a game like Avowed is heading to PS5. Maybe they subscribed to Game Pass for it. Maybe they bought it. But you can see how that would create annoyance and even more uncertainty about Microsoft’s current release plans if this happened any time soon.
- Avowed is based on the Pillars of Eternity universe, yes, but it more or less exists as a new IP, and that’s something Microsoft previously said they would not give away. While explaining their rationale for keeping Call of Duty multiplatform as they argued in court to buy Activision Blizzard, they said that original, first party IPs were the types of things that would stay exclusive to Xbox, not big, established series like Call of Duty.
- We have an example of this very thing happening. At least not yet. That would be Starfield, Bethesda’s big new game that was out in September of 2023, and a year and a half later, is not on PS5, nor has it been announced for PS5. Even if “nothing is off the table” that does not mean “everything is eventually going.”
FOR
- Obsidian said that Microsoft was happy with how Avowed is performing, but in this current software-spreading era, Microsoft also wants…sales, and they are now the biggest publisher on PlayStation, which is wild to see (mainly due to Call of Duty). Bringing Avowed to PS5 would obvious result in far more sales than they currently have.
- Obviously, the majority of Xbox players played Avowed on Game Pass, and Game Pass ensures far less box copy/digital sales as part of its very nature. But looking outside of the non-Xbox ecosystem, I’m not sure I can say Avowed performed amazingly on Steam. It did not even break 20,000 concurrent players there in an era where rival, less high-profile RPGs like Kingdom Come: Deliverance II peaked at 256,000 there. Even the “failed” Dragon Age: The Veilguard peaked at 89,000 (albeit with a much larger budget, no doubt). I don’t think Avowed is some sort of disaster, but Microsoft would not be sad if it moved a few million more copies on PS5.
What will happen? I’m going to give it a least a year before this is either announced or actually happens, but judging by Starfield, hey, maybe not.
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Pick up my sci-fi novels the Herokiller series and The Earthborn Trilogy.
