Disney has explained why it agreed to make Bethesda’s upcoming Indiana Jones title an exclusive to Xbox and PC.
Discussing Disney’s gaming vision in an Axios exclusive on Dec. 11, Disney’s Head of Gaming, Sean Shoptaw, shared the company’s viewpoint on Indiana Jones‘s Xbox and PC exclusivity. “We didn’t feel like we were going to be overly exclusionary,” Shopstaw told the publication, mainly because Xbox is still one of the biggest gaming marketplaces. Despite not coming out on other platforms, Disney believes the game will reach a “broad set of folks,” and Shopstaw explained its Xbox exclusivity is something that made sense to the company at the time, both strategically and financially.
The Indiana Jones game was renegotiated to be an Xbox/PC exclusive at the request of Microsoft, meaning it was initially planned to release on other platforms as well. This exclusivity was confirmed on June 22, 2023, and Bethesda’s Head of Publishing, at the time, Pete Hines, explained that the decision was “about reducing risk and trying to get to a degree of certainty.” The developer wanted to ensure it had all the time it needed to work closely with the licensor.
Apart from the platforms and the fact it is in development, there’s not much information regarding the Indiana Jones title. The game was announced back in 2021, with Bethesda announcing it is an “original story” being developed by MachineGames (developer of theWolfenstein series) and produced by Todd Howard in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games. At the time of the announcement, Bethesda also added the caveat that it would “be some time before we have more to reveal,” and unsurprisingly, we haven’t heard much regarding the game ever since.
There were also rumors of Bethesda working on another Disney-licensed game alongside Indiana Jones. However, there are no details about this mysterious game as well and it’s unclear when we might see the next taser or reveal for either of the games.
