"Bombed so hard" is a blatant exaggeration unsupported by the facts.
We were both there at launch and we saw what happened. It caught up eventually but that was after years worth of intense word of mouth and a ton of sales. Publishers weigh launch numbers far higher than long term sales anyway. In the eyes of Obsidian, the launch was enough of a dud by their standards to later openly admit that it sold way under expectations and that they weren't planning on a sequel for a while. It's kinda unambiguous if even the developer is openly admitting that.
Maybe 'bombed so hard' is a bit strong of a descriptor. But everyone knew the launch performance wasn't up to par regardless.
Avowed veering straight into first person RPG with no hint of a PoE3 in sight is rather telling as well. Though it's likely that they planned on Avowed for a while, PoE2's earlier performance most likely meant that they wouldn't be able to complete the project without additional funding from Microsoft.
Sure, it underperformed. Maybe just that words like "bombed so hard" comes across very differently to me than you.
Also for sure work on Avowed began before PoE2's release.
Originally Posted by Abits
Fucking first person again.
I wouldn't be too hasty on this. I'm still quite optimistic (based on comments they themselves have made) they will do what Skyrim did and provide a third-person option for Avowed.
