Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is coming to Xbox and PC on December 9th, Microsoft and Bethesda revealed at Gamescom. The MachineGames first-person adventure game will be a day-one Game Pass release. More surprisingly, the title will also make its way to PlayStation 5 next year, possibly as early as April.
This continues a new strategy by Microsoft to release more of its titles on Sony’s console after a period of timed exclusivity. Developing video games is massively expensive, and Microsoft can’t rely on increasing Game Pass numbers. Not releasing these games on PlayStation is leaving a ton of money on the table. It is still somewhat surprising given exclusives do drive hardware sales, and that has certainly been a winning strategy for Sony.
Overall, it’s great to see titles like Indiana Jones, DOOM: The Dark Ages, Sea Of Thieves and many others make their way to PlayStation. Sony tried to block Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision out of fears that Call Of Duty would become an Xbox exclusive, but Microsoft has done pretty much the exact opposite.
The Great Circle takes place between the events of Raiders of the Lost Ark and The Last Crusade. A story DLC—The Order of the Giants—comes with the Premium and Collector’s Edition versions of the game and will be released at a later date.
Check out the new Gamescom trailer narrated by actor Troy Baker who plays Indiana Jones in the game:
What do you think? Is this a smart strategy for Microsoft? Let me know on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook.
