Xbox's biggest game of next year is off to a disappointing start
Avowed won't hit the type of performance gamers have grown accustomed to from Xbox Series X
😣 Avowed will run at 30fps, Obsidian has confirmed
🤷♂️ The game’s art director said it allows for juicer VFX & lighting
😫 It’s not the first Xbox-exclusive game to launch at 30fps instead of 60fps
⏳ Starfield and Redfall both launched at 30fps but were eventually updated
Avowed, one of the biggest upcoming Xbox games, won’t hit the performance gamers expect from this generation of consoles and the Xbox Series X.
Like Starfield and Redfall, which eventually got updated to run at higher frame rates, Avowed will run at 30fps at launch on both Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S.
Speaking on the Iron Lords Podcast, art director Matt Hansen from Obsidian said the studio decided to target 30fps so the game could focus on delivering more graphically pleasing visuals.
“We are targeting 30 frames per second, bare minimum,” Hansen said. “That’s the expectation.
“It’s a first-person, single-player game, you don’t necessarily need that 60 frames. And that allows us to get a lot juicier with VFX and lighting and all this other stuff.
“It’s a trade-off we opted to make relatively early, and we’re really happy with that. The game’s running pretty smooth for how visually dense it is, and that was always our goal.”
Deja vu for Xbox fans
There’s a chance Obsidian could revisit Avowed performance and boost the frame rate, similar to Starfield, Redfall, and A Plague Tale: Requiem, which eventually received 60fps patches. However, there are no guarantees, and no new Xbox seems to be on the horizon to make things easier on the hardware side.
A 30fps performance target could be a deal breaker for some, especially as 60fps has become the standard many gamers expect. It’s also an issue that has predominately impacted Microsoft’s exclusive titles, while Sony’s first-party PS5 games have consistently hit their 60fps targets. The upcoming PS5 Pro should also help smooth out games that don’t hit that 60fps target as often as developers would like. Note: PS5 Pro pre-orders are expected in September if Sony sticks to its usual timing.
Avowed is set to release on February 18, 2025, and should hopefully kick start a year of big releases for Microsoft and Xbox fans. The game will be joined by the Fable reboot, South of Midnight, and Doom: The Dark Ages, to name but a few.
Adam Vjestica is The Shortcut’s Senior Editor. Formerly TechRadar’s Gaming Hardware Editor, Adam has also worked at Nintendo of Europe as a Content Marketing Editor, where he helped launch the Nintendo Switch. Follow him on X @ItsMrProducts.