Bethesda Is Making An "Indiana Jones" Game and We've Got Heaps of Questions

Will it be an Xbox exclusive?

In an unexpected move, Bethesda grabbed everyone’s attention last night by announcing the development of a new Indiana Jones game with an original storyline.

The new game in question is currently in development by Bethesda’s Machine Games and will be produced by Todd Howard—the guy best known for his work on Fallout and The Elder Scrolls—in collaboration with Lucasfilm Games.

Bethesda and Machine Games teased the new game on Twitter with a 33 second trailer and a short announcement of the partnership.

A new Indiana Jones game with an original story is in development from our studio, @MachineGames, and will be executive produced by Todd Howard, in collaboration with @LucasfilmGames. It'll be some time before we have more to reveal, but we’re very excited to share today’s news!

— Bethesda (@bethesda) January 12, 2021

We’re developing a new Indiana Jones video game! As huge fans of the franchise, it’s a tremendous honor for us to create a brand-new Indiana Jones game with a completely original story. We’re very excited and can’t wait to share more in the future! https://t.co/2oN6TZ5GJO

— machinegames (@machinegames) January 12, 2021

Unfortunately, this is just about all the information we are going to get for now 'cos it seems like the game is only in its very early stages of development.

"It'll be some time before we have more to reveal, but we’re very excited to share today’s news!" Bethesda said in a tweet.

So no, we don’t have a release date yet.

Since posting, the original teaser video has garnered over 4.8 million views on Twitter and that number is quickly climbing as gamers (at least in Australia) are waking up to the news.

At first, many fans thought that the teaser was announcing a new Wolfstein game until the end of the clip where we see Jones’ classic fedora and whip.

Some have also highlighted that we probably should have seen this reveal coming after internet detectives found what they thought were hints pointing to the new game from months ago.

In an interview with Todd Howard and Xbox back in September, fans spotted an artifact in Howard’s background that looks eerily similar to an Indiana Jones artifact from one of the original movies.

Lol continuing the trend of hidden Easter Eggs of big announcements, Todd Howard was visibly displaying Indiana Jones artifacts in his discussion with Xbox around the time the acquisition was announced.

Awesome.#indianajones #Bethesda #machineGames pic.twitter.com/v5ZDl9mYE4

— Malek | مالك 🍎 (@malekawt) January 12, 2021

This of course prompted fans to freak out at how they missed such a huge easter egg.

All of this speculation was quickly shut down though, as it soon came out that the artifact in Howard’s background wasn’t in fact a clue, it’s just that he’s a big fan of the Indiana Jones movies.

Just to be clear, this is not anyone "doing" anything. Todd is a lifelong fan of Indiana Jones. He owns a lot of cool Indiana Jones stuff. He's not displaying it for anyone's benefit or because of this announce. He's just a huge fan of Indiana Jones.

— Pete Hines (@DCDeacon) January 12, 2021

Others are less concerned with potential clues about the game and more stressed about whether or not the game is set to be an Xbox exclusive.

In September 2020, Microsoft made a huge move and bought out ZeniMax Media, Bethesda’s parent company.

As you could expect, many PlayStation fans freaked out, thinking that any future games from Bethesda would only be exclusive to Xbox.

To ease concerns, Executive Vice-President of Gaming at Microsoft Phil Spencer told CNBC that they’re not planning on taking away the fun from Sony, at least in terms of their already planned exclusives.

Since then, Microsoft has been very quiet about their buyout of Bethesda due to it technically not being official just yet.

Because of this, people aren’t sure if the Indiana Jones game (as well as any other future Bethesda games) will be made Xbox exclusives or not. Although, many Sony haters are high-key hoping that it is.

Bethesda just wrecked all the Sony fanboys...🤣💯 pic.twitter.com/QRKT4DJgHm

— Gandalf Gaming (@GandalfGaming__) January 12, 2021

Why is it cool to be exclusive?
I don't get this non sense. For me, a game which more ppl can play is always "coolest"

— Zé (@pxzin) January 12, 2021

For now, we’re just going to have to wait and see what Bethesda throws at us next (and low-key keep our fingers crossed that it isn’t an exclusive).

Header Image: Bethesda