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Xbox and Microsoft “Very Happy” with Avowed Reception Despite Having No Firm Metric, Says the Director

LastBattle

Member
Decided to play Avowed on a whim when it released. The game is surprisingly very good. Surprising in that quite a number of
Reviewers didn’t like it. Nothing wrong with a good to great game. I don’t believe for a second that they don’t have solid numbers on sales, engagement, etc though.
 

Ashamam

Member
There would be less understanding if that part of the quote was in the OP I think.
Damn, caught by a butcher quote. I should know better. I almost went back and fished for the full interview as well, but cbf'ed at the time.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
In the full quote it makes more sense. She says they are happy with the number of players and number of hours spent. But because some players bought the game and others got it through Gamepass, there isn't a single, simple metric she can give in an interview.

There would be less understanding if that part of the quote was in the OP I think.
Still means they know how many people got/played the game.

They had no problem sharing that number for Indy, as pointed out in this thread.
 

adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Cool story, Carrie


200w.gif
 

Hollowpoint5557

A Fucking Idiot
Words are meaningless without the data to back it up the same way my dad tells me he loves me but hasn't gave me a hug in 20 years because I'm a failure in his eyes.

See it all started when I had dreams of becoming a professional juggler. I practiced day and night, tossing around everything from oranges to bowling pins. Unfortunately, I had a unique talent for dropping things often. One day during a talent show I confidently stepped onto the stage and as the spotlight shone down I threw my first orange high into the air but it came crashing down on my own head. The audience erupted in laughter at me but I just stood there dazed and confused before Naruto running off the stage.

After the show when I looked for my dad in the crowd hoping for some support I instead found that dad was laughing with a group of friends saying, “Well, at least he’s consistent!” That stung me to my core. I couldn’t help but think, “If juggling oranges is my calling, then I guess I’m destined to fail.” I left the stage feeling like a failure, convinced my dad didn’t love me because I couldn’t even juggle a simple fruit without a disaster. If you're still reading this jokes on you.

Fast forward a few years and I decided to try something different—I took up cooking. I thought “How hard can it be?” But every dish I made turned into a culinary catastrophe. Dad visited one evening and after tasting my burnt spaghetti jokingly said “Well, if you can’t juggle, at least you can make a mess in the kitchen!” I realized that dad’s laughter wasn’t about not loving me though it was just his way of coping with the chaos. Still reading? Dont value your time? In the end I learned that even if I was a failure at juggling and cooking I was still loved for being myself—messy, clumsy, and all but he'd never actually ever been proud of me.

So anyway that bring me to the 4rth grade and one time...
 
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diffusionx

Gold Member
lol we've heard this before, RIP Obsidian.

How the hell can a game director not have any firm metric? You know how many copies are sold, you know how many people played it on Game Pass for x hours.
If Microsoft still doesn't know how to handle numbers via Game Pass combined with units sold there's something very wrong with them.

I mean basically they're admitting they don't know how to measure Game Pass success. How the fuck is that a thing almost 8 years in
Obviously, she is lying. Of course they have metrics.
 
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Killjoy-NL

Member
You mean 5 million demoed the game isn't enough?!

Seriously, 3.5m sold isn't enough for FF16 but Avowed which is primarily on Gamepass, not a service seller, is looking good? Yeah, sure.
That 5M number is even a completely made-up guesstimate based on Steam CCU and guesstimated GP subs.
 

mckmas8808

Mckmaster uses MasterCard to buy Slave drives
Wtf. Might as well be a flat out lie, as if they don't have firm numbers of both GP downloads, time in game, achievements etc plus full sales data. All fully correlated and analysed up the whazoo. Well to be fair the analysis might be ongoing but to suggest no firm metrics is treating their audience like fools.

Totally agree with you.
 

Sooner

Member
Words are meaningless without the data to back it up the same way my dad tells me he loves me but hasn't gave me a hug in 20 years because I'm a failure in his eyes.

See it all started when I had dreams of becoming a professional juggler. I practiced day and night, tossing around everything from oranges to bowling pins. Unfortunately, I had a unique talent for dropping things often. One day during a talent show I confidently stepped onto the stage and as the spotlight shone down I threw my first orange high into the air but it came crashing down on my own head. The audience erupted in laughter at me but I just stood there dazed and confused before Naruto running off the stage.

After the show when I looked for my dad in the crowd hoping for some support I instead found that dad was laughing with a group of friends saying, “Well, at least he’s consistent!” That stung me to my core. I couldn’t help but think, “If juggling oranges is my calling, then I guess I’m destined to fail.” I left the stage feeling like a failure, convinced my dad didn’t love me because I couldn’t even juggle a simple fruit without a disaster.

Fast forward a few years and I decided to try something different—I took up cooking. I thought “How hard can it be?” But every dish I made turned into a culinary catastrophe. Dad visited one evening and after tasting my burnt spaghetti jokingly said “Well, if you can’t juggle, at least you can make a mess in the kitchen!” I realized that dad’s laughter wasn’t about not loving me though it was just his way of coping with the chaos. In the end I learned that even if I was a failure at juggling and cooking I was still loved for being myself—messy, clumsy, and all but he'd never actually ever been proud of me.

So anyway that bring me to the 4rth grade and one time...
L80l8oP.jpeg
 

Zacfoldor

Member
I can tell you why they are happy. It wasn't flatly rejected by gamers and enjoyed modest success on gamepass. That's a big step up from Redfall and even Indiana Jones. I blame PC gamers. Fickle Microsoft assisters.

Microsoft:
Season 6 Nbc GIF by This Is Us
 
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adamsapple

Or is it just one of Phil's balls in my throat?
Words are meaningless without the data to back it up the same way my dad tells me he loves me but hasn't gave me a hug in 20 years because I'm a failure in his eyes.

See it all started when I had dreams of becoming a professional juggler. I practiced day and night, tossing around everything from oranges to bowling pins. Unfortunately, I had a unique talent for dropping things often. One day during a talent show I confidently stepped onto the stage and as the spotlight shone down I threw my first orange high into the air but it came crashing down on my own head. The audience erupted in laughter at me but I just stood there dazed and confused before Naruto running off the stage.

After the show when I looked for my dad in the crowd hoping for some support I instead found that dad was laughing with a group of friends saying, “Well, at least he’s consistent!” That stung me to my core. I couldn’t help but think, “If juggling oranges is my calling, then I guess I’m destined to fail.” I left the stage feeling like a failure, convinced my dad didn’t love me because I couldn’t even juggle a simple fruit without a disaster.

Fast forward a few years and I decided to try something different—I took up cooking. I thought “How hard can it be?” But every dish I made turned into a culinary catastrophe. Dad visited one evening and after tasting my burnt spaghetti jokingly said “Well, if you can’t juggle, at least you can make a mess in the kitchen!” I realized that dad’s laughter wasn’t about not loving me though it was just his way of coping with the chaos. In the end I learned that even if I was a failure at juggling and cooking I was still loved for being myself—messy, clumsy, and all but he'd never actually ever been proud of me.

So anyway that bring me to the 4rth grade and one time...


y6YV6vg.gif
 

Hudo

Gold Member
If they consider it a success, good for them. Now let Josh Sawyer make a Pillars of Eternity 3, please.
 
Avowed is a fantastic game which deserves the success it has achieved.

It was tough trying to navigate the waves of inane and unimportant negativity while trying to discuss the game in the lead up to its release, but as always, another Microsoft release is a backhand to Sony's deserving poor.
 

Raven117

Member
It’s a solid 7 game. No more. No less. 7 can be enjoyable.

Combat is great for an RPG of this nature. The story, writing, characters are not near the level that Obsidian had delivered in the past. So that’s disappointing.

if they can quit fucking around with writing by committee and go with something sharp and witty with that combat they designed… they will have a true hit. Not this…. Yeah, it’s alright
 

Allandor

Member
So far the game is great IMHO. Can't say to much of the story so far, as I follow side quests most of the time.
Also I like that there are almost always multiple approaches to end a question or reach a destination.
 

Loope

Member
Avowed is a fantastic game which deserves the success it has achieved.

It was tough trying to navigate the waves of inane and unimportant negativity while trying to discuss the game in the lead up to its release, but as always, another Microsoft release is a backhand to Sony's deserving poor.
I'm just ignoring the people who didn't play it and reading steam reviews. NEgative or positive at least these are people that played the game instead of some warrior.
 

Viruz

Member
Carrie stated that while she doesn’t have a firm metric

"I’ve certainly been very happy..."
Carrie Pattel while MS doesn't share with her the only metric that matters in any business:

giphy.gif
 

Leviathicus

Member
"very happy with the reception" is the most corporate talk ever. Bad news for the studio in a couple of months probably
 
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RafterXL

Member
How do u even tell if a game does well these days
You don't, and that's exactly how they want it, but if a publisher isn't using concrete numbers when they talk about how successful a release is, it's probably because it's not successful. The funny thing is, if Indiana Jones comes out and sells 2 million copies on PS5, Microsoft will 100% announce that even though they never one time mentioned how many copies it sold on Xbox. If they were really "happy" with Avowed, they'd release numbers, instead they allowed this 5.9 player narrative that everyone is running with, that was pulled directly out of some guys ass, without ever confirming or denying it.
 
You don't, and that's exactly how they want it, but if a publisher isn't using concrete numbers when they talk about how successful a release is, it's probably because it's not successful. The funny thing is, if Indiana Jones comes out and sells 2 million copies on PS5, Microsoft will 100% announce that even though they never one time mentioned how many copies it sold on Xbox. If they were really "happy" with Avowed, they'd release numbers, instead they allowed this 5.9 player narrative that everyone is running with, that was pulled directly out of some guys ass, without ever confirming or denying it.
Back in the day u would say how many copies a games sold now u say how many ppl played but theres no way of determine how much money this made the metrics dont add up
 
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