Discover the future of the Avowed franchise as the game's director hints at potential expansions and sequels following its successful launch. Dive into the details about the game's development journey and Obsidian's exciting plans for the Pillars of Eternity universe.

Avowed Director's Vision for the Franchise

The release of Avowed has been a triumph, with both Microsoft and Obsidian expressing satisfaction with its sales figures. In an insightful interview with Bloomberg on February 22, 2025, Avowed Game Director Carrie Patel shared her enthusiasm for expanding the game's universe. While no official announcements have been made, Patel's desire to continue exploring the rich world they've created is evident. "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 stated, hinting at the possibility of future expansions and sequels.

The Journey of Avowed's Development

The development of Avowed was fraught with challenges and pivotal changes. Patel described the process as "messy," but ultimately successful. Initiated in 2018, the project faced a significant shift when Microsoft acquired Obsidian in 2020. This acquisition led to the scrapping of several planned features, including multiplayer elements, and a leadership change in early 2021 that resulted in a reboot of the game.

Under Patel's leadership, the focus shifted to enhancing the narrative and lore from the Pillars of Eternity series, transitioning from an open world to more manageable open zones. "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 explained, highlighting the complexities of managing a large team through such a transformation. Despite the hurdles, she remains optimistic about the creative process, noting, "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."

Obsidian's Ambition for Pillars of Eternity Tactics

With Avowed reinvigorating interest in the Pillars of Eternity universe, Obsidian is eyeing new ventures within this beloved franchise. During a Twitch Livestream on February 23, 2025, Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire Director Josh Sawyer revealed the studio's interest in developing a tactics game titled Pillars: Tactics. "Pillars: Tactics is a thing that a lot of people would like, a lot of people at the studio would like to work on; there are a lot of people who like tactics games," Sawyer enthused. However, he acknowledged the challenges of defining the project's scope, including team size, visual quality, and overall scale.

Sawyer also expressed a strong desire to create Pillars of Eternity 3, but with a significantly larger budget akin to that of Baldur’s Gate 3 ($100 million), a stark contrast to the budget of Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire.

Avowed is now available on Xbox Series X|S and PC. Stay tuned for more updates and insights on the future of this captivating franchise by checking out our dedicated article below!