(Opinion) Why Avowed is doing so badly.

[FiftyKal]

Okay I'll start by saying I didn't even know this game was coming out and it was on my wish list. I found out it was out today after seeing Asmongold's "Microsoft is actually f*cked.." video.

The reason I didn't see it was that after "Dragon Age Vielguard" I blocked the LGBTQ+ Tag on steam for games going forward.
And while I think Avowed is not really a Woke disaster like other games, it's still definitely has LGBTQ+ & some woke elements.
So like me many steam players that don't want to bother with politics etc have probably just blocked the Tags to not even bother, and while they may have enjoyed this game as it looks like those Ideologies are present but not forced in this Game they will never even know about it.

Basically what I'm saying is that Woke has gone too far, and now the swing is coming back, while people may have been fine with a few woke things in games before if the game was good now they won't even look at a game if there is a hint of Woke/LGBTQ+ in a Game.

So it will be interesting to what happens to the Industry going forward.

[PersonalC0ffee]

Originally posted by olvlvl:

Originally posted by FiftyKal:

(Opinion) Why Avowed is doing so badly.

Let me fix the title of the thread for you: "I'm a bigot"

This is honestly what it feels like it is boiling down to.

I'm a bigot

and

It isn't skyrim.

All opinions, comparisons, and other such have all been boiled down to; it isn't skyrim or Oblivion. That it doesn't look like, function, act, or play like those games, therefore I am big mad.

So WHAT?

[Cruna]

Originally posted by olvlvl:

Originally posted by FiftyKal:

(Opinion) Why Avowed is doing so badly.

Let me fix the title of the thread for you: "I'm a bigot"

If such intelligent people like you were the target audience, no wonder the game failed. Easy to be stupid, but it's bad for business :))

[OMGJesuis]

Originally posted by Cruna:

It's a flop. And it's failure has multiple reasons, not only one. Very bad image coming from devs, very clumsy release window, and later failure to attract new interest if the original ones were gone. It was just too little too late.

- There was no actual big Marketing for this game. B.Net send out e-mails to every single thing that they are dropping as new in it. Hearthstone expansions, Diablo updates, Call of Duty updates, etc.

- I would argue that what brought genuine attention to this game was the controversy with the Art Director, even if I think he was unhinged at how he exploded.

- 70$ price tag is overpriced. Yes. Indiana Jones suffered from the same issue, both fantastic games, which I would presume such price is a staple on a Microsoft contract so GamePass subscription are more appealing. Make it be expensive in other platforms, offer it cheap in your "home".

- It is not a flop, nor a failure. Games do not need to reach 200k active players to be a success, there are games which break from their niche bubble, there are games that don't. If you are to base your metrics of success behind peak of active users, then there's very little succesful games on Steam. As I pointed out in other thread, Outer World had 20k peak; another Obsidian game that will have a sequel. Death Stranding had 30k peak. a Kojima game that finally had left PlayStation exclusivity.

The list of games that do not get massive high numbers in player peak is huge, and this does not puts them as a failure, because there are fantastic games in that. Disco Elysium had 8k peak, and it's a RPG that won 4 Game Awards, including best RPG. Even the launch window was something the Developers openly stated that they were not worried about Monster Hunter or Kingdom Come Deliverence release. This, does not mean they expected to beat those games in sales. It simply means that being obviously overshadowed by them wouldn't compromise their goals. Makes me believe they expected to hit mostly their niche audience, and they did by those numbers.

It's not really a case, even more for a game that was not AAA like Avowed was ever meant to be.

[NerazarPC]

Originally posted by Fantastic Fwoosh:

Originally posted by Giorgio:

You are out of touch with reality if you think the anti or pro-woke sentiments have any meaningful impact on any game's sales. Both sides, y'all just terminally online.

In terms of just blocking LGBTQ+ steam tags, the devs here and a handful of other studios haven't come through on delivering good games, which happen to have a combined element with LGBTQ+ in recent memory if they felt compelled to add it, compared to faithful fantasy RPG's like Baldur's Gate 3, to worry about missing new titles.

I wish we could block-filter entire studios.

Seconded. It's not "the studio that brought you..." anymore. That was always somewhat of a lie, but it has gotten worse with the franchises we used to love 10, 20 years ago.

They fire all the lead creative writers and designers and have them replaced with cretins. No wonder that games are tanking. I am glad that you can exclude specific tags, because I just can't be bothered with propaganda - I am bombarded with it every day. I want some relief and some fantasy game in a cool setting with a gripping story. Nothing more, nothing less.

[HidesHisFace]

It is doing badly for multiple reasons.

Wokeness is one of them, but it is just a nail that seals the coffin. One straw that breaks the camel's back.

It is a spin-off of a series that was very niche to begin with.
Pillars of Eternity is not a big series - these are very solid games that fit themselves right into the revival of isometric RPGs - and they among the closest to the old Infinity Engine games among those - you know, like classic Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and so on.

The thing is - Pillars got overshadowed by other games - namely Divinity Original Sin 2 and Pathfinder games - mostly due to lack of marketing.

They still gathered a cult following - and this where the blunders begin - instead of working on a 3rd entry just when isometric RPGs got kicked into overdrive, they decided to branch out to audience... that was not there.

This spinoff is not going to appeal to people who liked original Pillars - it is too different.
When I heard that the next game in the Pillars setting was going to be this... I was surprised but not in a positve way.

And now it is already too late for isometric entry, given that Baldur's Gate 3 is going to be the point of reference - and good luck reaching anything close to it.

The devs drove themselves into a corner with this one.

[Fox]

Has nothing to do with being “woke” and entirely to do with being a ♥♥♥♥ game. But you Americans are obsessed with making everything political and crying about being a victim.

[Morgrum]

Originally posted by Urist:

It is doing badly for multiple reasons.

Wokeness is one of them, but it is just a nail that seals the coffin. One straw that breaks the camel's back.

It is a spin-off of a series that was very niche to begin with.
Pillars of Eternity is not a big series - these are very solid games that fit themselves right into the revival of isometric RPGs - and they among the closest to the old Infinity Engine games among those - you know, like classic Baldur's Gate, Icewind Dale and so on.

The thing is - Pillars got overshadowed by other games - namely Divinity Original Sin 2 and Pathfinder games - mostly due to lack of marketing.

They still gathered a cult following - and this where the blunders begin - instead of working on a 3rd entry just when isometric RPGs got kicked into overdrive, they decided to branch out to audience... that was not there.

This spinoff is not going to appeal to people who liked original Pillars - it is too different.
When I heard that the next game in the Pillars setting was going to be this... I was surprised but not in a positve way.

And now it is already too late for isometric entry, given that Baldur's Gate 3 is going to be the point of reference - and good luck reaching anything close to it.

The devs drove themselves into a corner with this one.

The game isnt woke it is just poorly implemented.
The game took a step backwards in game design from current games.
Its art style changed from what we saw in the original trailer to the WoW fortnite bleh which really pushed me away.
Avowed is just a middle tier game not worth the hefty 70$ price tag that they set.
At 40-50$ they probably would have seen more sales.

[Diomed]

I see no proof it is failing other than the bogus claims of alt-right incels on these forums. One wonders why they are still here if they don't like the game. Maybe they are the ones pushing a political agenda?

[Tux]

If avowed is doing poorly which I can not validate with any numbers other than Steam because no other numbers are provided, in my opinion its less related to 'woke' although there is an intersection.

I was a software developer for 13 years, when I started code was clean, concise and to the point and did the job.
By the time I retired the standard practice had so many unnecessarily layers of abstraction it made getting anything do a LOT longer and a LOT more complicated.
Combine that with having 10 bosses, 10 meetings per day for status reports (I exaggerate a bit there), Agile meetings on top of Scrum cards, layout of objectives instead of just doing it, 'Unit Testing' (which is a unmitaged S show).
Take all of that, then add on TOP Of it. Woke meetings, woke character objectives, extensive reviews of what characters should be saying.
I am not remotely surprised its become more expensive with less quality.
not at all.

p.s. To be clear I was an Application developer, not a game developer so I am assuming things there regarding characters and 'woke'

[Videogame Jukebox]

"I found out it was out today after seeing Asmongold's "


Ugh....Of course you did. Thats all i needed to read.

[Force of Nature]

Originally posted by Elvi:

Game looks okay, but after the deranged director rants, I really don't see why would anyone without deep self-hatred buy it. Shame.
Maybe it would be a good idea to control your top employees when they speak about/for your products, huh.

His views were a big turnoff for a lot of people.

[Ele]

Gamers were hungry to see another game flop after Veilguard, and Avowed was the most similar-looking launch.

Too bad for Avowed. But I think they deserve it, they've been messing around with controversies for months.

[Force of Nature]

Originally posted by Diomed:

I see no proof it is failing other than the bogus claims of alt-right incels on these forums. One wonders why they are still here if they don't like the game. Maybe they are the ones pushing a political agenda?

I suppose it would be your measurement. Reviews are positive. Sales are weak. Player count is probably good being it’s on gamepass. There are 26 million people on gamepass I’m sure a chunk of them (millions) downloaded the game.

I didn’t buy it because I don’t want to support the racist views of their art director.

[Codian]

Ideology has nothing to do with it.
Systemic racism by those in power at obsidian and Microsoft coupled with a game that gets raked by games made 14 years prior with half the budget is the main issues.

People are sick of buying slop and the sales reflect that

[Codian]

Originally posted by RORSCHACH:

Gamers were hungry to see another game flop after Veilguard, and Avowed was the most similar-looking launch.

Too bad for Avowed. But I think they deserve it, they've been messing around with controversies for months.

No. Gamers are hungry for good games. You make it sound as if all gamers are tabloid reading airheads that thrive on negativity. In fact there are hundreds of millions of gamers that just want quality games made by companies who don’t openly hate them.