The director of Avowed, Carrie Patel, has hinted at the team's plans for the franchise following the game's successful launch. Read on to discover more about the potential for an expansion or sequel, and other exciting developments from the company.
Avowed Director Wants To Expand the World They've Created
Avowed has been a hit, with both Microsoft and Obsidian pleased with its sales figures. In a recent interview with Bloomberg on February 22, 2025, Game Director Carrie Patel discussed the possibility of expanding the Avowed universe through new content.
While Obsidian has not officially announced any plans, Patel expressed her eagerness to continue directing and her desire to explore new creative avenues. She stated, "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." This suggests a keen interest in both expansions and sequels.
The Evolution of Avowed During Development
The development journey of Avowed was filled with challenges and significant changes. Patel described the process as "messy," but ultimately successful in reaching its final form.
Originally started in 2018, the project coincided with Obsidian's plans to potentially sell the company. Despite previous successes like Fallout: New Vegas and Pillars of Eternity, the challenges of independence were evident. Microsoft's acquisition in 2020 marked a turning point, but the team still had to drop several planned features, including multiplayer aspects. A leadership change in January 2021 led to a reboot of the game.
Under Patel's leadership, managing a team of over 80 people was no small feat. She explained, "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's vision focused on enhancing the story and lore from the Pillars of Eternity series and shifting from an open world to open zones, which allowed for better space management and development.
Reflecting on her experiences, Patel noted, "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 bringing the Pillars of Eternity franchise back into the spotlight, Obsidian is now exploring new opportunities within this universe. During a Twitch Livestream on February 23, 2025, Josh Sawyer, the director of Pillars of Eternity and Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire, revealed the team's interest in developing a tactics game called Pillars: Tactics.
Sawyer commented, "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." However, he acknowledged the challenges in defining the project's scope, including team size, visual quality, and overall scale.
While interest in a tactics game has been noted before, the success of Avowed may pave the way for this vision to become reality. Despite this, Sawyer remains committed to the idea of creating Pillars of Eternity 3, albeit with a significantly larger budget akin to that of Baldur’s Gate 3, set at $100 million.
Avowed is currently available for Xbox Series X|S and PC. For the latest updates on Avowed, be sure to check out our related articles below!
