"I understand Avowed is in good shape, this is more a matter of wanting to give the game breathing room outside of a very busy period for Xbox Game Pass."

I'm sad that Avowed has been delayed but holy shit is Microsoft finally learning to spread their releases out? It's a miracle. If this is truly the case as Tom says, that the delay is more to give it breathing room, then I see no reason why Avowed can't be Q1 2025. They're probably just in the polishing stage now. Also gets Avowed away from Dragon Age.

I figured it was going to be Avowed or Indiana Jones that will get delayed to at least early next year with Stalker 2 now getting a primetime holiday slot.

Avowed is the "new IP" (well, to the vast majority it will be a new IP) which would have been jammed between Indiana Jones and Black Ops 6...Maybe Flight Simulator 2024 at this rate as well, Stalker 2 is probably a small factor, I honestly think they've been waiting for Dragon Age's release date more than being concerned about Stalker 2 but yes, Stalker 2 is another Game Pass release.

So it logically makes sense to get the "new IP" out of the packed Holiday line-up and give it breathing space, especially if Dragon Age ends up being October-November, Avowed's original release date leak was November 12th, soon after Black Ops 6, if it was delayed into late November it would be right near Indiana Jones rumoured release date and on-top of Stalker. Depends where DA is it would have direct competition.

I think Q1 is best for it from a scheduling POV (Tbh I'd put Towerborne in Q1 as well).

"I understand Avowed is in good shape, this is more a matter of wanting to give the game breathing room outside of a very busy period for Xbox Game Pass."

I'm sad that Avowed has been delayed but holy shit is Microsoft finally learning to spread their releases out? It's a miracle. If this is truly the case as Tom says, that the delay is more to give it breathing room, then I see no reason why Avowed can't be Q1 2025. They're probably just in the polishing stage now. Also gets Avowed away from Dragon Age.

Yeah, Avowed being a new IP to pretty much everyone the game will be catering to will have a huge disadvantage against the likes of Dragon Age and jammed between other major mainstream appeal franchises.

Stalker 2 will be more than a GP release though. From presentation to content wise, the game has the ability to be positioned as a major holiday reason. Not many know this, but the original 3 Stalker games are around 50 hour experiences each. 100+ hours each if you want to experience everything each game has to offer. I'm sure Stalker 2 will be just as long to complete. Even if you focus on just main objectives, you're still looking at least 30 hours. So combine the game length and AAA presentation and Xbox could be viewing the game as one of their heavy hitters.