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I’m quite excited about Avowed. Developer Obsidian Entertainment is arguably the best RPG developer in the business, not least following BioWare’s sad implosion. Avowed‘s marketing has been rocky, to say the least, but Obsidian knows what it’s doing. This makes it all the more disappointing for me, as a lover of physical game copies, to see what Avowed is outrageously calling its “physical edition.”
What’s In The Box?
I’ve long been a proponent of maintaining physical games media. The benefits are obvious, the main one being the option to sell the game when you’re done with it. Obviously, publishers aren’t too keen on this notion, since it potentially limits sales. With the pushing of digital-only consoles and subscription services, it’s clear that publishers don’t want us to own physical games.
To be clear, I think digital games are perfectly reasonable when it comes to indie games. Indie developers and publishers don’t necessarily have the manufacturing capabilities to produce physical media cost-effectively. But the likes of Sony and Microsoft most certainly do.
That is why I didn’t imagine my research into the Avowed physical edition, due to release on February 18, would render me stunned. I mean, surely a physical edition is a physical copy of the game, right? In a case, presumably, maybe with a leaflet if you’re lucky. Nope. Not according to Obsidian and Microsoft.
In a move that I still cannot wrap my head around, Obsidian Entertainment explains on its website that “Avowed offers two digital editions and one physical edition.” OK, cool. One physical edition, please.
But what’s this? Apparently the so-called “physical edition” is actually called the “Avowed Premium Edition SteelBook”, priced at an eye-watering $94.99. And—here’s the kicker—this edition doesn’t feature a disc copy of the game. It’s a download code in a box. For a landmark AAA game.
Game Pass or Bust
Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by this. After all, I’ve heard precious little furor in industry circles. But, to me, releasing a “physical edition” of a AAA game that doesn’t include a disc of the game itself is extraordinary. Although I don’t agree with it, I’m sadly used to seeing digital editions of AAA games sold at full price (or more). And we even have the alarming trend of major releases shunning physical releases entirely, as Alan Wake 2 notably did. But calling a release a “physical edition” because it comes in a SteelBook case seems bizarre. The only other “physical” aspects of the $94.99 release are a map and a “letter from the developer,” presumably thanking the consumer heartily for slapping down 95 bucks on a digital code. The accompanying artbook and soundtrack are both digital, too.
In truth, Microsoft hasn’t been particularly coy about its strategy, so I shouldn’t be surprised by the short thrift afforded to physical games media. Last quarter, Microsoft’s hardware sales were down by a whopping 29%, while its subscription-based Game Pass experienced record growth. The company isn’t just disinterested in selling consoles; it’s also not overly fussed about selling games. All it wants is to have as many players as possible locked into the Game Pass ecosystem, paying a monthly subscription to play but never owning games.
Don’t get me wrong, for some players, Game Pass is a good value proposition. With Microsoft owning so many IPs and studios following its high-profile acquisitions of Bethesda and Activision Blizzard, there’s no shortage of AAA games available on Game Pass at release. But you have to be comfortable with rapidly playing but never owning games to get the most out of the service.
A Worrying Trend
As a gamer who still likes to own my games and have the option to trade or sell on, I find Avowed “physical edition” depressing. Usually, voting with your wallet is an effective way to voice your displeasure with an industry trend. In this case, though, that would mean not buying Avowed, which I suspect is what Microsoft wants anyway. It wants you to play the game, of course, but it’s perfectly happy if that’s through Game Pass. In fact, that would the ideal.
We’ve seen before that Microsoft is perfectly willing to shut down studios that produce successful games, so “supporting the developer” doesn’t hold much weight. Still, I’m hopeful that Avowed is a success and gives us the choice-heavy, true RPG that many of us so desperately crave after the Dragon Age: The Veilguard disappointment. Sadly, though, I won’t be shelling out $95 for a code in a case nor $69.99 for the digital base game. I’ll hope to pick it up on PS5 when it presumably makes the jump over. If there’s a proper physical release, that is.
