Bethesda’s Indiana Jones game, which is currently being developed by Wolfenstein developer Machine Games, will be exclusive to Xbox.
This news comes from an ongoing court trial between the Federal Trade Commission and Xbox (and Activision Blizzard, which Microsoft is trying to acquire) happening today, which is where Bethesda’s Head of Publishing Pete Hines revealed the game will be a console exclusive on Xbox, as reported by IGN. Like Xbox’s other first-party releases, Machine Games’ Indiana Jones game will also come to PC.
However, Hines also revealed that Disney and Bethesda parent company ZeniMax originally signed an agreement that this Indiana Jones game would be multiplatform, meaning it’d likely also release on PlayStation. Hines says after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax in 2020, the agreement with Disney was amended to transition the Indiana Jones game away from a multiplatform release and instead, into one that will release exclusively on Xbox and PC.
Today’s court trial also revealed that Xbox head Phil Spencer told Hines that Bethesda should look at title exclusivity on a case-by-case basis, IGN reports. As for why Indiana Jones was transitioned into an exclusive, Hines cited “reducing risk and trying to get a degree of clarity.”
“You’re dealing with a licensor who is giving a ton of feedback on what you’re making, is going to add a ton of time to your scheduling, these agreements, you don’t get to take as long as you want, you have a window of time in which you’re going to release a game, you immediately have a clock that’s ticking on you,” Hines said, according to IGN.
Bethesda revealed Machine Games’ Indiana Jones game back in 2021 with a short teaser trailer, and that was the last we’ve seen of it. However, Bethesda head Todd Howard says he first pitched this Indiana Jones game way back in 2009. There’s still no release window for the game today.
[Source: IGN]
Editor’s Note: The headline has been updated to reflect the game will also come to PC.
