There’s a new rumor that Microsoft has scored another Disney owned IP, to make an Xbox exclusive.
As reported by Tech4Gamers, a YouTuber named eXtas1s claims to have learned that no less than Bethesda’s id software has been tapped to make a Star Wars game. Just to punctuate it further, id was given The Mandalorian license.
The sourcing on this rumor is sketchy, as eXtas1s isn’t even a native English speaker. But it is credible that leaks arrive on non-English speaking countries, even in Latin American countries. There will also be connections to video game developers, and more commonly, distributors, in those countries.
We can also talk about the circumstances surrounding this rumor that make it sound credible. In 2021, LucasFilm under Disney revived the LucasFilm label for all its related video games. Alongside this, they revealed that they would once again license Star Wars outside EA, following a near decade where EA had failed to deliver on most of their proposed Star Wars titles.
While EA has continued their Star Wars Jedi series, we did see Ubisoft reveal Star Wars Outlaws, Quantic Dream reveal Star Wars Eclipse, and Sony reveal their PlayStation 5 exclusive title, the Knights of the Old Republic remake. Regardless of the status of the last title, LucasFilm has demonstrated that they are willing to greenlight even console exclusives for these Star Wars titles.
On another tangent, LucasFilm licensed Indiana Jones for a new game to be made by Bethesda’s MachineGames. That game was originally to be a multiplatform release, but Microsoft renegotiated the license so that it would be an Xbox exclusive.
Outside of LucasFilm, Disney’s Marvel division greenlit an upcoming Marvel’s Blade video game, to be made by Arkane Lyon. Marvel’s Blade follows the release of Marvel’s Spider-Man video games by Insomniac, that are not being released for Xbox. While Arkane, Bethesda, Xbox, and Marvel have yet to make it official, it is expected that Marvel’s Blade will, in turn, not be released on PlayStation.
So exclusives, even of popular video game licenses, are not unusual, and Disney has greenlit these for several of their franchises already. It really would not be out of the ordinary if Microsoft did the legwork to get a The Mandalorian game license, and pass it on to id software. In fact, it may be that Bethesda did this legwork, since they of course also own Arkane Lyon.
It will certainly be interesting if and when Microsoft confirms this rumor as real. This one seems like it would be worth waiting for this year’s grand Xbox Game Showcase for 2024’s E3 Week, though they could announce it as soon as a Q1 Xbox Developer Direct.
