Multiplayer =/= GaaS.
You also think a game having online co-op means it's GaaS so ...
It literally says a destiny like title, bruh, this is some serious cope
and cut the multiplayer component. Even so, it was still failing to coalesce. By January, the studio had decided to replace the project’s leadership team and reboot the game.
This came as a shock to the Avowed team, which consisted of 80 people who were preparing to enter production
Broken vows
About four years ago, employees of the Irvine, California-based video-game developer Obsidian Entertainment were set to gather on a video call to discuss some unpleasant news. Avowed, the ambitious role-playing game that they had been developing for more than two years, was going to be rebooted.
Carrie Patel, who would take over as director on the new version, already had a lot of reasons to be anxious as she waited for the all-hands meeting to start. During her time at Obsidian — her first video-game company — she had been a writer, a lead narrative designer and the director of an expansion. But she had never led development on a game this large, and she knew that the news would result in upheaval and a big hit to the team’s morale.
Then the headlines began popping up. There was violence taking place on the other side of the country, at the US Capitol in Washington, D.C. What was normally a procedural vote to certify the winner of the presidential election had turned into chaos.
It was Jan. 6, 2021, and Obsidian’s big day was being overshadowed by a riot.
Obsidian decided to reschedule the all-hands meeting for later in the week. “It was honestly a challenge on just about every front,” Patel told me during a recent interview.
It was an inauspicious start to Patel’s stewardship of Avowed. But four years later, the end result is impressive. Avowed came out this week to generally positive reviews and strong buzz. It’s a sharp, focused RPG with solid combat and stellar exploration.
Behind the scenes, the creation of the game was anything but straightforward, with multiple false starts and a lot of stress.
“I feel like I’ve learned so much over the past four years that I wish I’d known at the start of this process,” Patel said. “It’s definitely been a job where the highs are really high and the lows are really low.”
Development of Avowed began in 2018, as Obsidian executives were gearing up to sell the company after 15 years of independence. The studio had become beloved for complex role-playing games like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, but staying solvent was always a challenge. Obsidian presented prospective buyers with a pitch for Avowed, which the company hoped would be its magnum opus: a cross between Destiny and Skyrim that allowed players to adventure together in a massive fantasy world.
Later that year, Microsoft Corp.’s Xbox purchased Obsidian. The new owners announced the game in the summer of 2020. But despite a glossy teaser trailer, Avowed was floundering. The development team had gone through two different vertical slices — chunks of the game designed to demonstrate how it would all function — and cut the multiplayer component. Even so, it was still failing to coalesce. By January, the studio had decided to replace the project’s leadership team and reboot the game.
This came as a shock to the Avowed team, which consisted of 80 people who were preparing to enter production. Now they would have to develop a third vertical slice and essentially start over from scratch.
“Normally if you’re stepping back and reevaluating your creative direction, putting together a new vertical slice and revised production plans, you would do that with a very small team,” Patel said. “We did not have a very small team at that point.”
In the weeks and months that followed, Patel had to simultaneously figure out a new vision for the game, refill key leadership positions and ensure that dozens of writers, designers, programmers and artists had work to do as Avowed found its footing. It was like “building the tracks while the train is moving forward,” Patel said.
“A lot of lessons we learned as we were building this game, ideally we would’ve learned on a small scale with a true preproduction,” she added.
Under Patel, the game made two major pivots. One was to double down on the story and lore from the Pillars of Eternity franchise, which Obsidian had been incubating for more than a decade. The other was to replace the open world with “open zones,” like the company’s 2019 hit The Outer Worlds, which would allow the development team to create distinct, dense spaces.
They’d have to sacrifice the ambitions of building a Skyrim-style map where players could walk for hours and still not see everything. But for both technological and logistical reasons, that was proving to be an impossible quest.
“With any game you think, ‘OK, we can’t climb every mountain — which ones are really worth the effort for us?’” Patel said. “We knew from The Outer Worlds that we could build a really great game with ‘open zones,’ and that also adds some advantages in terms of letting you really theme your areas more distinctly and intentionally, and provide a sense of progression as the player’s going from one environment to the next.”
The Avowed crew stayed quiet for the next few years as Patel worked to rebuild her leadership team, steer everyone in the same direction and learn how to direct a major project for the first time.
Because games are so complex, with countless variables ranging from big (how many companions there are) to small (the main character’s walking speed), even something as seemingly simple as clearly communicating decisions can prove to be a big obstacle — and a big lesson for Patel.
“As an individual contributor, you’re always saying, ‘Well if I were in charge, I’d be doing this, and obviously this would be the right call,’” she said. “Then you get there and you’re like: ‘This is harder than I thought it would be.’”
Faced with the pressure of delivering on one of Obsidian’s biggest bets, Patel spent a lot of time getting to know unfamiliar disciplines, like engineering, while making tough calls about what to prioritize.
Avowed was re-revealed in 2023 and initially set for a fall 2024 release before it slipped to Feb. 2025. It wasn’t until late in development that it all coalesced.
“There’s this interesting thing I’ve seen on every project I’ve worked on or seen during my time at the studio — things are messy, messy, messy, then they start coming together,” Patel said. “How can we find that point a little earlier? Or at least find the things we need to reinforce for ourselves? Yes we will get there, we’re on track. A lot of it is iterative. There’s a lot of work to get there.”
But ultimately it was worth the wait. Players have raved about the game, and the company said it is happy with sales so far.
Obsidian isn’t saying what’s next for the team, but Patel said she wants to keep directing games. The idea of something new is appealing, she said, but it seems more likely she’ll be building on Avowed’s foundation for expansions or sequels.
“Now that we’ve built this wonderful world, and also built this team strength and muscle memory around the content and gameplay in this world, I’d love to see us do more with it,” she said.
Thanks @toxiichollow
Their studios have been so badI’m sorry but if you’re pinning any hope on games like Perfect Dark following on from Forza Motorsport, Starfield and Avowed you are on crack!
Xbox couldn’t run a bath.
Their studios are in absolute disarray.
What can I say...called it.
But ultimately it was worth the wait. Players have raved about the game, and the company said it is happy with sales so far.
It's not a very expensive game to develop. It's doing better than Indy, with probably 1/3 of the budget
Believe whatever you want. I'm just saying it's been known for a while that it was rebooted from a multiplayer game to a single player game. I think I read that in a Kotaku article shortly after the first gameplay was shown. You're the receipt master so you can find some old article if you are interested.
And yes, it turns out that was the plan—at least at first. "Originally we were pitching, in essence, our Skyrim," confirms Obsidian CEO Feargus Urquhart in an exclusive interview with PC Gamer.
But that is not what Avowed, as it currently exists, is going to be. "I think over the course of time as we worked on it… Bethesda makes an awesome Skyrim. Mojang makes an awesome Minecraft, and Turn10 makes awesome racing games," says Urquhart, referencing a handful of Obsidian's sister studios at Microsoft. "What we do is we make our awesome RPGs, right?"
The feeling, then, was that Obsidian were better served not following Bethesda's example of a grand, open world, but instead staying true to what an Obsidian game should be. "That's when we backed up and said again: What are we good at? What's our lane?" That core, for Urquhart, is Obsidian's dedication to storytelling.
"Outer Worlds is the greatest, latest example of that, and even Pillars. Pillars is less linear than Outer Worlds, but it's still a game that has you go through a story. And [Pillars of Eternity] 2 was even less linear, but still again you have this core story as you're going."
Their studios have been so bad
The last Forza Motorsports and Starfield both were pretty big disappointments for me as I played a ton of the previous Motorsports but this current one came out broken and too grindy, haven't even tried it since a couple of weeks after it launched
If you review the original post in the thread I made earlier this week, I said I felt like somewhere along the line they scrapped the story, rebooted the game, went in a different direction than what the announcement trailer depicted.You called it that it was worth the wait and fans are raving about it?
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what a weird thing to put in the article.
Hey now, we've just seen people slandering rebirth in the name of Avowed in some of the other topics covering this game.
Be careful.
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Is Jason alright.
What part of that sounds like a multiplayer game?
What part of anything they showed in the reveal trailer looked like a multiplayer game?
If you review the original post in the thread I made earlier this week, I said I felt like somewhere along the line they scrapped the story, rebooted the game, went in a different direction than what the announcement trailer depicted.
So are you saying Spencer should...That lies with Matt Booty and Phil Spencer. Matt Booty because he is ultimately responsible for managing the studios. Phil Spencer for not firing Matt Booty for doing a shitty job.
Wish that guy would pick a lane: politics or video games. Back when journalism was actually a thing, editors would have yanked that shit out the article. Now they are barely even spellchecked.
The MP portion was removed even before the game entered full production per today's article, kind of a moot point in retrospect.
The trailer was just a concept / announcement trailer. Considering the game didn't even enter full production, I doubt they had any actual assets to share. To give another example, RE5 was announced with a purely single player looking trailer, no one would have guessed it was a co-op game until the second or third trailer year(s) after the original announcement.
Is Jason alright.
How is it "moot" when the original pitch was for a skyrim style game and all material that they put out to the public was for it to be a single player game in that style?
Not a single person looked at that original trailer and expected a multiplayer game.
Sounds like that good old BioWare magic. Keep rolling the dice, Patel, and see if your luck holds out as well as theirs did.things are messy, messy, messy, then they start coming together
And it didn't end up being a multiplayer game. I'm not sure what you're arguing here? It was a CG trailer for a version of the game that was rebooted pretty shortly after in 2020.
The game, as we know it, is the one they've shown since 2023. There wasn't a release window bait and switch.
Simply mentioning the co-op model being cancelled is underselling the amount of change that I feel has actually happened. Even the article itself mentions more than that.The MP portion was removed even before the game entered full production per today's article, kind of a moot point in retrospect.
The trailer was just a concept / announcement trailer. Considering the game didn't even enter full production, I doubt they had any actual assets to share. To give another example, RE5 was announced with a purely single player looking trailer, no one would have guessed it was a co-op game until the second or third trailer year(s) after the original announcement.
Yes, but honestly this reboot is a well known thing. This article is not breaking any news.
That it had been a MP/co-game at first but rebooted was publicly announced by Obsidian in 2023.
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Obsidian reveals why Avowed's co-op mode was cancelled
Obsidian cancelled the co-op mode for Avowed very early in development, and now the studio reveals some of the rationale that went into that decision.www.tweaktown.com
Phil not having the balls to fire Matt Booty really fucked up Xbox.That lies with Matt Booty and Phil Spencer. Matt Booty because he is ultimately responsible for managing the studios. Phil Spencer for not firing Matt Booty for doing a shitty job.
See my original comment in this thread for my point of discussion.
RIP in pieces to those who attempted to gaslight people by telling them it's the same as the original trailer.
You can detect the shortcuts the writers took with this game if you're familiar with The Outer Worlds. The story of the Outer World has you as a part of a corporation and through the game you need to figure out whether you will stand with the corpos or rebel against them. In Avowed, you are an envoy of an oppressive government/society. Throughout the story you need to figure out if you are going to execute the duties you were entrusted with by the Emperor, or rebel against the Aederyans.
Like come on, it's not hard to see.
I'm sure it wasn't in full development for 6 years. Obsidian has less than 300 employees. Since 2020, they released TOW, Pentiment, Grounded, Avowed, and later this year TOW2. They are a pretty efficient studio. I don't think Avowed being rebooted multiple times affected them muchI don't know man, a game in full development for 6 years including two reboots can't be cheap.
I mean the reality is that outside of Bethesda and ABK, all of the other MS studio acquisitions were small 2nd and 3rd tier studios, no one should be surprised these studios are turning out 2nd and 3rd tier gamesI’m sorry but if you’re pinning any hope on games like Perfect Dark following on from Forza Motorsport, Starfield and Avowed you are on crack!
Xbox couldn’t run a bath.
Their studios are in absolute disarray.
I did ... and I can't recall anyone in any recent Avowed thread saying this.
Punished Miku 's first reply to you about it originally being an MP game that was rebooted is factually correct, not sure why you're grilling him about things like "so you think the trailer showed an MP game? doubt.jpg".
Am I nitpicking the fact that the entire tone of the game was made much lighter than the announcement trailer would have you believe? Both aesthetically and in terms of story? The article says thatI did ... and I can't recall anyone in any recent Avowed thread saying this.
Punished Miku 's first reply to you about it originally being an MP game that was rebooted is factually correct, not sure why you're grilling him about things like "so you think the trailer showed an MP game? doubt.jpg".
You're not a part of any corporation in Outer Worlds, you're a blank slate scientist/whatever awoken from hyper-sleep. Avowed gives your protagonist a prominent backstory by comparison.
You have your right to be disappointed in the games leveling etc, but some of the other complaints you've read here and in your other topic just come off like nitpickinglike I mentioned in my first reply to you there, you're showing surprise at the drastic change in artstyle from the announcement trailer, if you'd seen anything they'd shown of the game since 2023, you would have known this.
Great read.
Not a fluff piece marketing article.
They prevailed at the end, thats all that matters. Game with clear vision on what makes it good. Great leadership by Carrie Patel.
Ok...regardless, the over-arching premise is the same. Side with the oppressors, or the oppressed.I did ... and I can't recall anyone in any recent Avowed thread saying this.
Punished Miku 's first reply to you about it originally being an MP game that was rebooted is factually correct, not sure why you're grilling him about things like "so you think the trailer showed an MP game? doubt.jpg".
You're not a part of any corporation in Outer Worlds, you're a blank slate scientist/whatever awoken from hyper-sleep. Avowed gives your protagonist a prominent backstory by comparison.
You have your right to be disappointed in the games leveling etc, but some of the other complaints you've read here and in your other topic just come off like nitpickinglike I mentioned in my first reply to you there, you're showing surprise at the drastic change in artstyle from the announcement trailer, if you'd seen anything they'd shown of the game since 2023, you would have known this.
The CEO of the company said in an interview it was originally a skyrim style game, I linked that above.
Are you now saying you'd rather take Schreier's word over the CEO of Obsidian along with what we could see in the original trailer?
The first mention that they ever attempted to put anything multiplayer in to the game came in 2023, long after the original reveal and people in Xbox circles were talking about it being a skyrim style rpg:
Not sure how you're reaching that conclusion.
We've known about this originally being like Skyrim before they changed it for a while now, there's been numerous "Obsidian says Avowed is less Skyrim and more xyz (Outer Worlds, Fallout NV etc)" threads on GAF.
Most of the things in that picture didn't turn out to be true, reads like some intern who was at the very first pitch meeting about the game, but most of it was axed before they actually started developing the game.
It's the death throes of a ideology losing its power.The fuck is this article doing talking about January 6th. Are we not over it by now? Does it really have any significance to any the story here?
I'm also not sure I agree that players are "raving" about the game. The response is positive, but a lot more tepid. But then again, Veilguard was a real return to form, too.
Am I nitpicking the fact that the entire tone of the game was made much lighter than the announcement trailer would have you believe? Both aesthetically and in terms of story? The article says that
Am I nitpicking the fact that the game just tosses a random quest about abortion legality?
I suppose it's also nitpicking to have random npcs unimportant to the story just randomly converse with you about their homosexual relationship...and after that....you just get to walk away and go about your business. Like why is that there?
I have not really complained much about the gameplay and I'm not complaining about the leveling. I've already said in another thread that the game feels like Skyrim but more responsive. The combat is....acceptable. Not bad, but not great. I say this in the context that Skyrim is over a decade old and Avowed's combat is not a decade ahead.