Bethesda has recently announced that its in-development Indiana Jones game is now an Xbox console exclusive.
Publishing boss Pete Hine recently announced the exclusivity of the Indiana Jones game the company was developing. He was speaking in court during the opening day of Microsoft’s legal battle with the Federal Trade Commission, which is trying to block the Activision-Microsoft deal.
FTC lawyers asked Hines to confirm if, before Bethesdas was acquired by Microsoft, Disney had signed an agreement with its parent Zenimax to make Indiana Jones game for multiple consoles. He replied with a resounding yes to this inquiry.
Another inquiry asked to confirm if, after Microsoft’s acquisition, Disney brought up the issue of which consoles the Indiana Jones game would be released for. Again, Hines answered yes.
Hines then later confirmed that Bethesda had amended the Disney agreement. This resulted in Indiana Jones turning into an Xbox and PC exclusive, and will be on day-one release on Xbox Game Pass.
The publishing exec also claimed in court that Bethesda would make exclusivity decisions on a case-by-case basis and that the titles it did decide to release only on Xbox benefitted streamlined development. One of the reasons for it is due to having to test fewer versions.
“You go to fewer platforms, your development gets more streamlined,” he said. “It just needs to run as well as possible on one box, on PC. You know, a narrow focus always helps.”
This was also the reason for Indiana Jones game to now be an Xbox console exclusive.
“The primary one in my view is what I said about reducing risk and trying to get to a degree of certainty,” Hines said.
“You’re dealing with a licensor who’s going to have a ton of feedback on what you’re making, add a lot of time to your schedule, you’re required to provide a release window. You immediately have a clock that’s ticking. We liked the idea of bringing it to Game Pass and all the players we could reach there.”