The warm reception that Avowed has received since its February 18 release has fans petitioning Obsidian Entertainment for another Pillars of Eternity, the progenitor of Avowed’s setting of Eora. Pillars of Eternity 2: Deadfire is a cult hit, a shining example of the potential of the CRPG subgenre of role-playing games. It’s the kind of game that wasn’t wildly popular at release, but those who do play it consistently sing its praises.

A Reddit thread from rocampos24 petitioned fans of Pillars of Eternity about what they would like to see in a sequel. Although some respondents answered earnestly, a fair few of the commenters admit that it’s unlikely we’ll see another Pillars of Eternity game.

Pillars of Eternity 3 May Never Happen

NoIdeaWhatToPut points to a comment from Pillars of Eternity game director Josh Sawyer in an interview last year with RPG Site, where Sawyer said, “I feel like Avowed is now where the Pillars universe has kind of gone. And it’ll be interesting to see what the audience picks up on that, and maybe that’s where the Pillars universe kind of goes in the future. So I think there’s a lot of different possibilities about what we do in the future. I do think that I am more interested in doing original IP than existing IP.”

It’s important to consider the circumstances under which Deadfire was released. Obsidian had yet to be acquired by Xbox and was still partially crowdfunding its games. The budget constraints and logistical challenges were a stressor for those who worked on Deadfire, and the game slightly underperformed Obsidian’s commercial expectations despite critical acclaim. That being said, Deadfire has become “very profitable” in the years since its release, according to Sawyer.

Sawyer has admitted that Deadfire burned him out and later said he’d only like to do Pillars of Eternity 3 if he had a Baldur’s Gate 3-sized budget (per TouchArcade). The approximate budget for Deadfire was $5 million, while Baldur’s Gate 3 is speculated to have cost around $100 million. This isn’t a confirmed number, but it aligns with how many people Larian has stated worked on Baldur’s Gate 3, as well as the visible production value of the game. Even with the backing of its wealthy parent company, Microsoft, it’s extremely unlikely that Obsidian would be allocated anything close to $100 million to develop a CRPG which, despite the success of Baldur’s Gate 3, remains a niche genre. It’s even less likely given Xbox’s recent shift towards money-making ventures, such as its new strategy of releasing former exclusives on PlayStation 5.

Although Sawyer certainly wasn’t making any professional commitments, it’s difficult to imagine Pillars of Eternity 3 going ahead without the wholehearted participation of the series director. There’s also the unfortunate reality that Avowed’s peak player count is comparable to Deadfire’s on Steam, which doesn’t even include the former’s console and Game Pass players. At this point, an Avowed 2 seems more likely than a Pillars of Eternity 3.

Icandothemove, a ruthless pragmatist, commented “Avowed being a success makes an Avowed sequel more likely, not a Pillars one. Deadfire is, in my opinion, one of the best (or best) CRPGs ever made. We just have no reason to believe Obsidian is going to make another CRPG unless something drastic changes.” It’s an astute analysis and likely a correct one.

However, Sawyer has revealed that there’s an appetite at Obsidian to create a Pillars: Tactics game. Even if we never get another mainline Pillars of Eternity, at least the studio seems willing to continue to explore the universe of Eora.