Microsoft’s Xbox finally has a Game of the Year contender in a popular category such as action/adventure (or, as I called it in my review, adventure/action) with Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. It’s a bit ironic that it launched a couple of weeks too late to be considered for The Game Awards show that goes live tomorrow.
Regardless of that, Microsoft and all parties involved (Bethesda, MachineGames, LucasFilm) are very happy about the great reception of the game. Speaking to Variety after the reviews hit, Xbox president of game content and studios Matt Booty also discussed the exclusivity topic, suggesting that it will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
We are very much making the exclusivity and windowing decisions on a game by game basis, and each of our studios is in a little bit of a different position. There’s also the production timeline on a game, so the decision on spacing comes there first. We want to make sure there’s a great experience for our Xbox players, and then the gap between when it becomes available on PlayStation is as much a production decision as it is anything else. This is a game that was in production before we acquired Bethesda, even.
This sounded like a partial backtrack compared to Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer’s latest statement that there were no ‘red lines’ when it came to Xbox exclusives being ported to other consoles.
With Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, the situation was a bit more complex. As mentioned by Booty, the game started development ahead of Microsoft’s acquisition of Bethesda parent company ZeniMax. As such, it was originally not planned to be an Xbox exclusive. That changed later as Microsoft decided to launch the game only on Xbox and PC to boost its Game Pass subscription service. To do so, they had to amend the contract with Lucasfilm (and Disney).
However, Microsoft’s stance on exclusivity toward rival consoles has changed drastically in the last few months, beginning with the ports of Sea of Thieves, Hi-Fi Rush, Pentiment, and Grounded. Consequently, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle got a simultaneous release date announcement for PC and Xbox and a release window for PlayStation 5, leaving some Xbox fans a bit baffled.
Following Spencer’s statement, it seemed like there were no barriers anymore, but Booty’s words leave some room for Microsoft to potentially keep some exclusives close to its chest. The general trend is clearly to maximize revenue by releasing games on as many platforms as possible, though.
Their next big console exclusive is Obsidian’s Avowed, due to launch on February 18 for PC and Xbox Series S|X.
