Phil Spencer says Avowed was not delayed due to quality issues

Microsoft has said that Avowed’s delay was not the result of quality issues with the game.

Obsidian’s RPG was scheduled to release this year, but in August Xbox said it would delay the title until February 2025.

Given that Microsoft had a relatively large lineup of its own by the end of 2024, it said at the time that it wanted to “give pending players a break.”

Spencer talked about the delay in more detail in a new interview with game File.

“We can afford it when we have the Diablo expansion, then Black Ops, then Indy [and the Great Circle]”, said.

“We didn’t move it because Obsidian needed time. They will take advantage of the time.”

Spencer added: “[Xbox game Studios head] “Matt Booty and I planned it, we talked to the game Pass team… We said, ‘Okay, let’s make sure we pace this a little better.'”

Announced in July 2020, Avowed is a first-person fantasy action role-playing game set in the world of Eora, which was originally introduced in Obsidian’s Pillars of Eternity series.

The game‘s director, Carrie Patel, has said that Avowed will be similar in length to The Outer Worlds and will have more than 10 different endings.

In the same interview, Spencer also expressed his distaste for “manipulative” expansions that don’t offer players “a unique point of view.”

In a separate Bloomberg interview published today, the executive said Xbox is still open to more acquisitions following its $69 billion purchase of Activision Blizzard last year.

He also said that Xbox would not rule out any first-party games coming to PS5 or Switch, and that Xbox is working on portable prototypes.