Summary
- Despite initial criticism, Avowed has become a critical and commercial success.
- Avowed peaks at over 17,000 players on the day of full release, making it a success for Obsidian.
- Avowed is the best-selling game on Steam in the United States.
Avowed is an interesting release for Obsidian Entertainment. Despite the studio’s pedigree for roleplaying experiences, Avowed is Obsidian’s first attempt at a first-person fantasy RPG, a subgenre popularised by The Elder Scrolls.
The game’s five-day “advanced access” period for players who purchased the game’s premium edition didn’t go down particularly well, and criticism of Avowed’s role-playing elements began to spread. Despite this negative sentiment, Avowed is a critical hit, holding an average critic score of 82 on OpenCritic. Proponents of Avowed also expressed their satisfaction with the game and were unhappy with the prevailing sentiment emerging from content creators and influencers. It should be noted that Avowed debuted to “Very Positive” review scores on Steam, and has maintained this rating following its full release.
Now, following Avowed’s full release on February 18, the game is off to a respectable commercial start. Despite being available on Game Pass, Avowed peaked at over 17,000 concurrent players on the day of its full release. This peak is approximately 5,000 players higher than Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, another Game Pass title.
A Great Success
According to a Reddit thread from Homemadeshock, Avowed is currently the best-selling title on Steam in the United States, beating out pre-orders for Monster Hunter Wilds and purchases of Kingdom Come Deliverance 2. This isn’t entirely surprising given a large proportion of players purchase a game on its release date, but it’s still worth noting.
Avowed’s 17,000 peak players on Steam isn’t far off the peak number of players for The Outer Worlds (20,300), one of Obsidian’s most successful releases. Given the number of players likely playing on Game Pass and Xbox Series X/S, Avowed will likely be considered a commercial success for Obsidian, especially given that games often have a lengthy tail-end sales period.
Obsidian will be hoping to replicate this success when it releases The Outer Worlds 2 later this year. A trailer debuted at December’s Game Awards ceremony, but no specific release date was confirmed. It’s been a prolific period for Obsidian, with the studio releasing six games over the last four years, a rare pace in modern development.
- Released
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February 18, 2025
- ESRB
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Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Strong Language, Violence