Avowedwas meant to be one of Xbox’s tentpole first-party releases for 2024, alongside other major releases likeIndiana Jones and the Great Circle,Hellblade 2, andCall of Duty: Black Ops 6. Considering it was revealed all the way back in 2020, it’s clear that the Obsidian-developed action RPG has been in the works for quite some time. As such, many were confident that the title would reach its projected launch date. After all, every timeAvowedwas shown off during one of Xbox’s presentations this year, such as the Developer_Direct and the Xbox Games Showcase, it had a 2024 window attached to it. A few months ago, Obsidian even leaked a June 05, 2025 release date for its upcoming role-playing game by accident, only to remove any mention of it shortly thereafter.
However, Obsidian’s removal of the November 12 release date, coupled with Microsoft’s refusal to formally reveal exactly whenAvowedwould launch, did raise some eyebrows, as some started to question if the game would even make it out this year. These suspicions were ultimately proven correct when, in August 2024, Xbox announced that it would bepostponingAvowed’s release to June 02, 2025, in order to “give players' backlogs some breathing room.” Although Obsidian’s highly-anticipated RPG was reportedly ready for release in 2024, according to various insiders, Xbox nonetheless decided to delay the game in order to spread out its first-party releases and avoid a stacked holiday launch window. Unfortunately, though, following some recent developments,Avowed’s new 2025 release date may prove to be just as troublesome as its previous one.
Avowed’s Delay to February 2025 May Not Benefit the Game All That Much
Pushing Avowed Out of November Made Sense at the Time
At the time the decision to postpone the game was made, the reasoning behindAvowed’s delay to 2025 seemed sound. The leaked November release window for the title was, after all, quite stacked. Multiple Xbox exclusives,namelyS.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of ChornobylandMicrosoft Flight Simulator 2024, are both slated to launch in the month. Other major releases are headlining November as well, likeMario and Luigi: Brothership,Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake,Path of Exile 2, andPlanet Coaster 2. One of Ubisoft’s biggest upcoming titles,Assassin’s Creed Shadows, was also meant to launch on November 15. All in all, it seemed likeAvowedwas dodging a bullet by avoiding a November launch in favor of February.
February 2025 is Going to Be a Stacked Month for Video Game Releases
Now that thevideo game release calendar for 2025is starting to take shape, though, it looks like February is going to be just as stacked as November, if not more so. Not only isAvowedlaunching in the month, butKingdom Come: Deliverance 2,Civilization 7,Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, andMonster Hunter Wildsare as well.Lost Records: Bloom and Rage, meanwhile, is releasing on February 18, the exact same day as Obsidian’s upcoming RPG. EvenAssassin’s Creed Shadows, whichAvowedwas likely trying to steer clear of, has also been pushed to February 2025.
PostponingAvowedto 2025 to give the game some breathing room, only for it to still be released in a highly competitive month is probably not what Microsoft had in mind when deciding on the delay. The RPG’s new release date doesn’t seem like it’ll do the title any favors, because the game will now have to face off againsta bunch of AAA juggernauts in February.Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2, which is launching only seven days beforeAvowed, is especially concerning, as both titles appeal to similar audiences and may cannibalize each other’s sales.
Bumping Avowed Up to January Could Be the Right Call to Make
Due to how clustered February 2025 is, it may be a good idea for Microsoft to bumpAvowed’s release date forward a little. January, for instance, is pretty vacant so far, asDynasty Warriors: Originsis currently the only major release in the month. A mid-January release date forAvowedcould give the game some much-needed time to shine, which would benefit both players and the developers at Obsidian.
Avowed
WHERE TO PLAY
Welcome to the Living Lands, a mysterious island filled with adventure and danger. Set in the fictional world of Eora that was first introduced to players in the Pillars of Eternity franchise, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action RPG from the award-winning team at Obsidian Entertainment.You are the envoy of Aedyr, a distant land, sent to investigate rumors of a spreading plague throughout the Living Lands - an island full of mysteries and secrets, danger and adventure, and choices and consequences, and untamed wilderness. You discover a personal connection to the Living Lands and an ancient secret that threatens to destroy everything. Can you save this unknown frontier and your soul from the forces threatening to tear them asunder?
