We've got some neat (extremely early) data for one of the year's last big games. Usually, I'm eagerly waiting for once-a-month data drops from Circana executive director and analyst Mat Piscatella, but every so often, he shares a bit more insight into what's going on week-to-week with U.S. video game sales.
As shared on Monday, Bethesda Softworks and MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was the second best-selling game in dollar sales of its full debut week ending Dec. 14, 2024. Holding firm in the number one spot was, of course, Activision's Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, another first-party Xbox title that launched a couple of months before Indiana Jones. Black Ops 6 has dominated the charts since it launched, being the best-selling game of October and November in the U.S.
I say "full debut week" for a reason, as it's starting from December 9, the day that the standard edition and Xbox Game Pass launch of Indiana Jones was available. Players who purchased the Premium Edition (or the Premium Upgrade, for Game Pass subscribers) were able to start playing on December 6. These sales aren't counted for the following week, making the figure a bit more impressive, especially since players enjoying the game solely through Xbox Game Pass naturally aren't counted on the dollar sales charts.
In a separate post, Piscatella also shared that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was the third-most played game on Xbox Series X|S consoles for the same week, using Circana data tracking total hours, not concurrent players.
Room for one more outing in the future?
Obviously, this is just the earliest results, and we'll have a better picture of how Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is selling as time goes on. Still, I'm happy to see this kind of solid debut, and I'd love to see word of mouth continue to result in more players and sales. We could all use more old-school fun and Nazi-punching in our lives.
I don't want to see Quake and Wolfenstein abandoned, but after this game being such a fantastic example of how to do a licensed cinematic property justice, I do hope we get at least one more Indiana Jones game from the crew at MachineGames. Maybe set right after the events of The Last Crusade?
If you need more convincing on picking this game up, read my review of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, where I wrote that "From the manner in which every line is delivered and scene is shot to the smirk on Indy's face when solving a puzzle, it's clear that everyone at MachineGames just gets what makes Indiana Jones so special. This is a game that can sit next to the original trilogy with pride."
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is currently available on Xbox Series X|S, Windows PC, and Xbox Game Pass Ultimate/PC Game Pass. A PlayStation 5 version is currently slated to launch at some point in Spring 2025.
