Posted in: Bethesda Softworks, Games, Lucasfilm Games, Video Games | Tagged: Bethesda Softworks, indiana jones, Lucasfilm Games
The New Indiana Jones Video Game Will Be An Xbox Exclusive
It was revealed in court last week that the new Indiana Jones game in the works at Bethesda will be exclusive to Xbox when it launches.
In a way that Xbox probably didn't want the news to be revealed, it was confirmed through court documents that the new Indiana Jones game would only be on Xbox. As reported by Video Games Chronicle, the word came down this past week during the first day of Microsoft's case against the Federal Trade Commission, in which the FTC is trying to block the acquisition of Activision Blizzard by the publisher. The FTC lawyers called Pete Hines, Bethesda's Senior VP of Global Marketing, to the stand to ask him several questions, which eventually led to the reveal. According to the report, before Bethesda was acquired by Microsoft, the company signed a deal with Disney to produce the game for multiple consoles. However, after the acquisition, Bethesda and Disney amended the agreement, making the game a Day 1 exclusive for PC and Xbox.
Hines also said in court that ever since the acquisition, the company now makes decisions about exclusivity on a case-by-case basis. As it has been pointed out by multiple outlets, Bethesda made sure to honor the prior exclusive agreements for both Ghostwire: Tokyo and Deathloop, as both titles appeared on PlayStation first. However, the recent release of Redfall was solidified as an Xbox-only title. According to the report, the decision for Indiana Jones was made in an effort to streamline the development, as they would have fewer versions of the game they would need to test.
Whatever the reasoning may be, it's pretty clear the FTC is going after very specific talking points to make their case. One of the more surprising things to come out of this is their official view of Nintendo, as another report from NintendoLife dropped from the case, revealing that they do not view Nintendo as a viable competitor to Sony or Mircosoft. A point that was argued against by Xbox head Phil Spencer, who noted that Nintendo holds its own share of the marketspace with exclusive titles and that they have Call Of Duty on the Switch. We'll keep an eye on the case as things progress forward. But regardless of what the decision is at the end, we're learning a lot about what's going on with certain games and what the U.S. government actually thinks of the game industry.