Indiana Jones: Why Disney agreed to Xbox exclusivity

As is well known, a new video game based on Indiana Jones is in the works, which was originally planned for PlayStation 5. After the Bethesda deal, it became an Xbox exclusive – and now Disney is explaining why they agreed to this deal.

When Bethesda officially announced the new video game about the iconic archaeologist Indiana Jones, there was talk of a release for PC, PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S. In the meantime, as is well known, Microsoft bought ZeniMax and thus also Bethesda for a lot of money – and as a result, the PlayStation version of the new Indiana Jones was completely canceled.

The fact that Indiana Jones is no longer planned for the PlayStation 5 became clear during Microsoft’s FTC legal dispute regarding its takeover of Activision Blizzard – even though Disney had explicitly licensed the brand for a multiplatform game. Accordingly, Xbox exclusivity had to be renegotiated with Disney – and the rights holder ultimately agreed to this.

During the litigation, Microsoft Gaming CFO Tim Stuart adm itted that both Starfield and Indiana Jones were expected to sell more than 10 million copies on the PlayStation. This would have enabled Microsoft to generate significant sales, but they still opted for Xbox exclusivity in both cases. Background: Microsoft is convinced that the sales losses caused by exclusivity can be offset by increasing Xbox Game Pass subscriptions and the fees paid for them.

In the end, it was the Xbox Game Pass that persuaded Disney to agree to a new agreement including Xbox exclusivity. Disney’s Head of Gaming, Sean Shoptaw, now admits this in an interview Axios a. “We felt that it would still reach a large audience and that it made financial and strategic sense for the game at this point,” Shoptaw said.

Even if the PlayStation is no longer a supported platform, Disney is convinced that, thanks to the Xbox Game Pass, a sufficiently large target group can still be reached with the new Indiana Jones game.