Microsoft confirmed this week that its main triple-A exclusive, Indiana Jones and the Circle, will actually become a limited-time exclusive on Xbox. Bethesda announced at Gamescom on Tuesday that the action-adventure game will be available first on Xbox Series S/X, Game Pass, and PC in December, and then on PlayStation 5 early next year. Following the confirmation, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer spoke about the company’s intentions and future direction in releasing first-party games on rival platforms.
Appearing on the Xbox On YouTube channel alongside Xbox president Sarah Bond, Spencer answered questions about Indiana Jones and the Circle launching on PS5 and said Xbox is focused on growing its games.
“When it comes to PlayStation launches, obviously last spring we launched four games – two on Switch and four on PlayStation – and we said we’re going to learn,” Spencer said. “We said we would watch, and I think at the presentation I would probably say that from what we learn, we will do more,” he added, referring to Microsoft’s announcement earlier this year about four exclusive games coming to PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.
While Spencer didn’t directly tie the decision to launch Xbox games on rival platforms to business reasons, the Xbox chief said the gaming unit has to run a business and be accountable to its parent company, Microsoft.
“What I see is that our franchises are getting stronger and stronger and our Xbox console player base is at an all-time high this year. So, I look at it and I say, ‘OK, our console player base is going up, our franchise is as strong as ever… and we’re running a business,'” Spencer said.
“It’s true within Microsoft – our standards are high in terms of what we have to deliver back to the company because of the level of support we get from the company, which is amazing for what we’re able to do.
“So, I’m thinking about: How can we make our games as powerful as possible and our platform continues to grow on console, PC and cloud, and I think that’s going to be a strategy that works for us,” Spencer said.
The Xbox chief didn’t elaborate on the decision to bring major first-party games like Raiders of the Lost Ark to PS5, or clarify whether there will be more big exclusive Xbox games crossing over to other platforms in the future. But industry insiders believe that more Microsoft first-party games may become multi-platform. Bethesda’s other game, Doom: Dark Ages, announced at the Xbox Game Showcase in June, has been confirmed to release on PS5 alongside Xbox Series S/X and PC.
However, Spencer did acknowledge that the entire video game industry is under “pressure” and spoke of the industry’s stagnant growth, suggesting that “more change” is coming.
“The last thing I would probably say is I think as an industry, there’s a lot of pressure on the industry right now. It’s been growing for a long time and now people are looking for ways to grow,” he said. “I think for us as fans and players of the game, we just have to expect more changes to some of the traditional ways in which games are made and distributed — and that’s going to change for all of us.
“But the end result has to be a better game that more people can play. If we don’t focus on that, I think we’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Spencer said.
He concluded by saying that the health of Xbox and its games remains the company’s “most important” priority.
Developed by MachineGames and published by Bethesda, Indiana Jones and the Big Circle will launch on December 9th on PC, Xbox Series S/X, and Game Pass. The action-adventure game will be released on PS5 in spring 2025. “We want everyone to enjoy this adventure,” game director Jerk Gustafsson said after Bethesda confirmed on Tuesday that the game would be launching on PlayStation.