Obsidian Entertainment Says Avowed Targets 30hz Performance

After more than four years since its initial reveal, Obsidian Entertainment is preparing to ship Avowed next year. Originally, the game received a fall 2024 release window looking to ship the title later this holiday. But in a follow-up announcement this month, the developer revealed that a new release date is scheduled for February 2025 instead.

And as coverage for the game begins to roll out with Avowed on of the showcased titles at Gamescom in Germany, more information surrounding the new title is starting to surface online. With an anticipated RPG featuring first-person combat and magic, fans do expect that the team could be leaning towards emphasis on performance for Avowed upon release.

But according to an interview with Iron Lords Gaming, art director Matt Hansen explained that 60 frames per second is not part of the mindset when shipping Avowed later this winter. You can view the segment of the interview in the video below:

“I mean, nitty gritty of it, performance is one of the last things we figure out, right,” Hansen says. “We are core- and we announced this also – we are core targeting 30 frames per second bare minimum. Like that’s the expectation. You know, its a first-person single-player game, you don’t necessarily need 60 frames that allows us to get a lot juicer with the VFX and lighting and all that sort of stuff. 

“So it’s a trade-off we relatively opted to make early and we’re really happy with that. I mean, the game is running pretty smooth for you know how visually dense it is,” he adds. And that was always our goal, but as far as a greater understanding of performance spec – we’re still figuring all that out – it’s one of the last things you do.” And this is a common trend with most Xbox Series X|S titles in recent time.

Over the course of the console generation, roughly a handful of titles went down this path – including Redfall, Starfield, and Hellbalde 2. Of course, this gradually was resolved when developers later patched in support for performance modes. But with teams still releasing projects in this condition does continue to surprise players.

Are you shocked by this new reveal for Avowed?

Avowed launches February 18, 2025 for Xbox Series X|S & PC.