Disney Exec Explains Why Indiana Jones Game Is Xbox Exclusive

It looks like the upcoming Indiana Jones game will indeed be totally exclusive to Xbox and Disney doesn’t seem to mind. It seems like everything is owned by someone big now and that can sometimes come with some barriers. The Spider-Man games and upcoming Wolverine game are exclusive to PlayStation and while they have also come to PC, Xbox players are left in the dust. However, Microsoft has had its own answer to this with games like Starfield. Xbox does share sometimes with games like Minecraft and it seems like the platform would like to knock down the walls of exclusives at a certain level as Call of Duty will continue to release on PlayStation despite now being owned by Xbox.

However, Microsoft understands it does need some games that aren’t on other platforms in order to drive people to its services and hardware. One of the next big exclusives for Xbox is Indiana Jones, a new original story based on the Steven Spielberg/George Lucas-created adventurer. It will be developed by MachineGames, a studio that Microsoft acquired when it bought ZeniMax and Bethesda. We know next to nothing about it other than Todd Howard is producing it and is a big Indiana Jones fan who has been trying to make this game for years. Hopefully, we will learn more next year, but Axios had a chance to talk to Disney’s head of gaming, Sean Shoptaw, and asked about making such a big franchise exclusive to Xbox. Apparently, Xbox had to renegotiate with Disney to make it exclusive, but Disney didn’t really mind due to Xbox having such a big piece of the gaming market.

“Xbox still being one of the bigger marketplaces for games, we didn’t feel like we were going to be overly exclusionary. We felt like it’s still going to reach a broad set of folks, and we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.”

Given Xbox makes all of its exclusives available to Xbox Game Pass on day one, Shoptaw is probably right. Millions of people will play the Indiana Jones game because it will be so accessible rather than charging $70 for it. Whether it’s good or not remains to be seen, but Starfield saw huge success thanks to Xbox Game Pass.

Xbox’s Blade Exclusivity

At The Game Awards, the Microsoft-owned studio Arkane confirmed that it is making Marvel’s Blade. We have no idea if it will be exclusive to Xbox as no platforms were mentioned and it seems like no one involved wants to commit to that idea at the moment. It has been speculated that Microsoft is holding off on saying anything as it is still being examined by the FTC for its Activision acquisition. Given Blade is still years away, we may not get any clarity on this matter for years, but it would be a good answer to PlayStation having Spider-Man and Wolverine.