Avowed launched in Early Access yesterday, with those who played it giving positive feedback on the game. This title comes from the beloved studio Obsidian Entertainment, which has also made games such as Fallout: New Vegas, Pillars of Eternity, and more. Avowed launched exclusively on Xbox and Steam, offering a premium early access period for an additional $10 where the game will then launch on Xbox Game Pass next week.
As the game launched, an uproar began regarding Avowed’s early access being live on Xbox Cloud Gaming, as reported by Windows Central. However, it seems that regardless of whether or not you bought the premium edition of the game, it simply would not be going live on Xbox Cloud Gaming until next week.
Coincidentally, Avowed’s early access period is currently available on the rival cloud service, NVIDIA GeForce Now. This seems like a bit of a strange choice, especially since Obsidian Entertainment is a part of Xbox Game Studios. It doesn’t seem to make much sense that Microsoft wouldn’t try to peddle its own services rather than benefit a rival one.
Considering how expensive the Ultimate Game Pass subscription is, after receiving a price hike, it seems quite unfair that Microsoft wouldn’t put loyal customers at the forefront and give them what they wanted by allowing them to have advanced access to the game that they paid for.
In addition, with the new ability to “buy to own” games on Xbox Cloud Gaming, a brand-new title such as Avowed would have been the perfect opportunity for this new feature. The system supports DLC entitlements for those who purchase deluxe editions of a game, which, by rights, should include the ability to access the game early, as stated when purchasing. However, as shown in a post on X, a user purchased the Premium Edition and found that it was nowhere to be seen on Xbox Cloud Gaming. At the time of writing, Microsoft has yet to explain why this is.
At the moment, it’s very uncertain as to why Microsoft has made this decision and whether it was just a massive oversight by people working at Microsoft or whether this was an intentional move to cozy up with a rival cloud gaming service. Either way, it’s left those on Xbox feeling slighted and ripped off after not being able to get their money’s worth. Whether or not the company will respond to those who have left complaints on social media remains to be seen.
