I’m sure you recall the MachineGames announcement a few years back. It was unveiled that the development studio was working on an Indiana Jones video game. Little was unveiled about the title, and since its reveal, it’s been mainly kept under wraps. We’re not sure just what to expect with this game. However, we’re finding out that after Microsoft acquired ZeniMax Media, the Xbox team quickly hit Disney up. A new report has surfaced today that unveiled renegotiations over the Indiana Jones license to ensure that Microsoft could keep this game an exclusive title.
Microsoft had been on a spending spree as of late. The company has picked up several video game studios over the years. One of the big ones was ZeniMax Media, which came with several companies such as Bethesda. Then, this year, we saw Microsoft finally close on their acquisition deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. When these deals happened, several games were already in the works. Most were titles slated to release on multiple platforms. However, some of those games quickly transitioned to being only an Xbox and PC exclusive.
This includes the MachineGames Indiana Jones title. MachineGames is known for delivering the latest Wolfenstein titles into the marketplace and happened to be acquired by Microsoft when ZeniMax Media was purchased. Thanks to Axios, the publication managed to speak with Disney’s gaming director Sean Shoptaw. During their conversation, it was unveiled that Microsoft requested to renegotiate the license terms for Indiana Jones to make it an exclusive. At the time, Disney didn’t feel that this would make it an overly exclusionary title as there is still a broad reach for the game.
Unfortunately, we’re still waiting to see more on this Indiana Jones game. We haven’t seen any new marketing materials come out. However, again, in the publication, it was unveiled that Todd Howard pitched a really compelling vision for Indy that resonated. So there’s certainly something here that Disney felt was strong enough to warrant a game being developed. Hopefully, in 2024, we finally get some insight into what exactly players will be up to in this new grand adventure. For now, you can view the initial trailer announcement for the upcoming title in the video we have embedded below. But again, this is just the announcement trailer, so don’t expect too much here regarding the game narrative.
