MachineGames' Indiana Jones is an Xbox-exclusive title

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Original agreement with Disney amended.

Indiana Jones Game Teaser
(Image credit: Bethesda Softworks LLC)

What you need to know

  • The FTC is currently trying to obtain a Preliminary Injunction against Microsoft trying to buy Activision Blizzard.
  • During the hearing, the FTC asked Bethesda Softworks' head of publishing Pete Hines about an upcoming Indiana Jones game being developed by MachineGames. 
  • The FTC alleged that the original contract with Disney was amended so the game would be Xbox exclusive and launch day one in Xbox Game Pass. 
  • Hines confirmed that this is the case.

We've got a bombshell reveal, not from any showcase, but from the hearing of the case Federal Trade Commission v. Microsoft Corp. 

When questioning Bethesda Softworks' head of publishing, Pete Hines, the FTC asked about MachineGames' upcoming Indiana Jones game. The FTC asked if the original contract ZeniMax Media signed with Disney stipulated a multiplatform release and if the contract was amended after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media for Xbox exclusivity and a day-one Xbox Game Pass launch. 

Pete Hines confirmed this is the case, meaning that in a very unconventional format, we now know that the Indiana Jones game will be an Xbox console exclusive. Naturally, the game will also be available on Windows PC.

Earlier in the year, the first Xbox-exclusive game from Bethesda Softworks, Hi-Fi Rush, was announced and released on the same day. Bethesda Game Studios' upcoming science-fiction RPG Starfield is scheduled to arrive on Sep. 6, 2023.

Windows Central's take

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With the timed PS5 console exclusive launches of Arkane Lyon's Deathloop and Tango Gameworks' Ghostwire: Tokyo firmly in the rearview mirror, the last remaining question around an upcoming multiplatform Bethesda game launch has been just what is going on with Indiana Jones. And just like that, now we know. 

Originally, it was multiplatform, but Microsoft negotiated with Disney to get the contract amended, and it's an Xbox exclusive, and by extension, an Xbox Game Pass day one launch.

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Samuel Tolbert
Samuel Tolbert
Freelance Writer

Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter @SamuelTolbert.

4 Comments Comment from the forums
  • GraniteStateColin
    This seems consistent with what Microsoft has said all along, no? Existing commitments, like Deathloop for Sony, would be honored. MMO games with existing presence on other platform will continue that broad support, including on PS, like Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Minecraft, and, if acquired, Call of Duty.

    But by default, all single player releases will be Xbox exclusives. The contract referenced is with Disney (the IP provider) not with Sony. While interesting to see this confirmed, I would think this would have been the default expectation. The FTC should certainly not be waving this as an "Aha, we told you!" flag. Microsoft already told everyone this two years ago.
    Reply
  • Samuel Tolbert
    GraniteStateColin said:
    This seems consistent with what Microsoft has said all along, no? Existing commitments, like Deathloop for Sony, would be honored. MMO games with existing presence on other platform will continue that broad support, including on PS, like Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 76, Minecraft, and, if acquired, Call of Duty.

    But by default, all single player releases will be Xbox exclusives. The contract referenced is with Disney (the IP provider) not with Sony. While interesting to see this confirmed, I would think this would have been the default expectation. The FTC should certainly not be waving this as an "Aha, we told you!" flag. Microsoft already told everyone this two years ago.
    I agree, I think the wrinkle here was the fact Disney was involved. After all, the original agreement called for a multiplatform release.

    However, Microsoft clearly had incentive and means to get things renegotiated, and so they did so.
    Reply
  • fjtorres5591
    I wonder if the FTC is willing to talk about SPIDER-MAN, which was a multiplatform franchise under ACTIVISION until Sony pulled it inhouse and made it Playstation only. Or the studios Sony paid not to develop for XBOX?
    Or how many multiplaform games Sony willingly publishes?

    I doubt it.
    Reply
  • GraniteStateColin
    fjtorres5591 said:
    I wonder if the FTC is willing to talk about SPIDER-MAN, which was a multiplatform franchise under ACTIVISION until Sony pulled it inhouse and made it Playstation only. Or the studios Sony paid not to develop for XBOX?
    Or how many multiplaform games Sony willingly publishes?

    I doubt it.

    Right. And while those are annoying if you only have an Xbox, I certainly don't think Sony should be prohibited by a government from doing those things (and indeed it wasn't). Same with Microsoft.
    Reply