There’s been a lot of talk about the success of Avowed, especially after the head of Obsidian, Feargus Urquhart, said that both Avowed and Outer Worlds 2 failed to meet sales marks set by Microsoft. Sure, just a year ago, it was reported that Microsoft was happy with initial sales, and player counts managed to reach higher than Indiana Jones, but that wouldn’t be the first time Microsoft flipped its tone.
Now, some rather fascinating news has come to the surface. Avowed reached the top 20 in single-daily active users. Matching up with other giants like Black Ops 7, Battlefield 6, Helldivers 2, and Fortnite.
What makes this even more impressive is that Avowed is one of the few games on this list that isn't driven by an online component. Games like Fortnite, Roblox, and Rainbow Six Siege X are all free-to-play, with major multiplayer elements that take center stage. Avowed is free of these, existing purely as a single-player campaign.
Other games like the below Elder Scrolls V: Oblivion Remastered, and DOOM: The Dark Ages are the only titles with pure single-player-only elements. Obviously, a lot of this was driven by Game Pass, but notably, there are some other big-name Game Pass titles missing from this list.
Hollow Knight: Silksong and Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 were beaten by Avowed. That’s right, more players played Avowed in a single day than the most-hyped game not called Grand Theft Auto VI and Game of the Year winner, Clair Obscur: Expedition 33.
That’s criminally insane when you think about it. There was certainly hype for Obsidian’s Avowed, but nothing came close to the constant chatter over Hollow Knight or the inevitable Clair Obscur.
One-Year Anniversary Update gets a preview
Coincidentally marking Avowed’s achievement, the one-year anniversary update will launch on February 17, 2025. The largest update ever for the game will bring new playable races, a new game plus, and new weapons like the Quarterstaff.
The changes coming include, but are not limited to:
- New races: Orlan, Aumaua, and Dwarf with Godlike features
- New weapon class: Quarterstaff
- Magic mirror at camp to change characters whole physical appearance
- New Game Plus
- Photomode
- New animations
- New difficulty settings that increase XP gain.
In the preview above, done by none other than my favorite reviewer, not named Michael Hoglund, Mortismal Gaming goes over the long road Avowed has faced over the last 12 months. Carefully going through each update, as well as a preview of the upcoming Anniversary patch, he gives high praise to the team at Obsidian for their continued dedication to the game, as well as sharing true excitement for the release.
As a big magic user myself, I decided I’d do a run-through of Avowed as a melee guy. I think another playthrough might be in order, given all the recent updates it’s seen, and you can bet a pretty penny I’ll be smashing skulls with that Quarterstaff.
With the patch comes the release of Avowed on PlayStation 5 as well. Whether the launch of the new update or the release on PlayStation will bring players back is yet to be seen, but I know one player will be striking up a Godlike character once more.
Avowed cracked the top games played in a single day, do you think the update and launch of the PlayStation 5 version will bring another surge of players back?
Drop your thoughts, theories, and wish‑lists below — especially if you want to see more of these unexpected arrivals.
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