Bethesda exec confirms Indiana Jones is an Xbox console exclusive

Prior to being acquired by Microsoft, Bethesda announced that Machine Games was working on its own Indiana Jones game. At the time, the game was planned to release on multiple platforms, but after the acquisition, the agreement between Bethesda and Disney was amended. 

This week, the US District Court of Northern California is hearing the case between Microsoft and the FTC. After this, the judge will hand down the ultimate ruling on whether or not Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be allowed to close. During the first day of the hearing, Bethesda's Pete Hines ended up on the witness stand.

During the questioning, it was revealed that the original deal with Disney for the Indiana Jones game specified a release across multiple consoles. Following Microsoft's acquisition of Zenimax, the deal was amended, turning the upcoming game into an Xbox and PC exclusive, with a day-one release on Game Pass.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, as Microsoft also did the same thing with Redfall and Starfield, which were also in development for multiple consoles prior to the acquisition. While new IP will almost certainly continue to be Xbox exclusive moving forward, it still remains to be seen what Microsoft's strategy will be for long-running, pre-established Bethesda franchises like The Elder Scrolls and Fallout.

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KitGuru Says: Whether or not this will help the FTC's case against Microsoft for the Activision acquisition is still up in the air. 

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