With Titles Like Doom: The Dark Ages Confirmed to be Multiplatform, Is It Really that Surprising that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is Coming to PS5?

The first whispers of Indian Jones and the Great Circle had many fans rightfully excited. The intrepid explorer has appeared in previous titles, but this would be his first appearance on modern gaming systems. With the popularity of Uncharted, Xbox fans believed this could be an ace in the hole for the company.

However, recent news has disappointed users of Microsoft’s hardware and led to many memes from other platform users. Gamescom 2024 would have been a big moment for Xbox users, but one frame had many sighing from frustration. But was this unexpected?

First-party IPs Are the Carrot at the End of the Stick

Exclusives have long been the lifeblood of many gaming companies. Unique gaming experiences that can’t be played anywhere else would urge consumers to invest in the hardware and, hopefully, the larger ecosystem. A strong lineup of first-party titles is often the benchmark many gamers consider before investing their money into a system.

The big three in the space—Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation—have long had a rivalry for consumer attention. In recent years, despite the initial scarcity of the console, the PS5 has pulled ahead greatly compared to the hardware sales of the other two companies. While many would attribute this to the technical capabilities of the console, it’s also due to game selection.

So far, the typical practice has been to launch a steady stream of exclusive content on the platform to encourage more people to invest over time into the hardware.

Microsoft’s $8.1 billion acquisition of Zenimax Media was a worrying issue for many PlayStation users, as they believed future Bethesda titles would be exclusive to Xbox. But, earlier this year, Phil Spencer put those worries to rest.

Has Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Signaled the End of the Exclusive Era for Xbox?

The Xbox Official Podcast was meant to show how the company planned to grow in the coming year and expand its footprint in the gaming industry. New games were expected, but what wasn’t expected was Phil Spencer revealing that some first-party Xbox exclusives would be making their way onto other platforms.

His reasoning behind this was to utilize the existing audience of the other platforms to help grow these titles in popularity. On paper, it makes sense, and the four titles he revealed were also ones that PlayStation users already had access to for a while.

PlayStation adopts a similar approach, bringing titles such as Ghost of Tsushima, The Last of Us, and God of War to PC a few years after its release on the console.

But it seems Microsoft is not interested in waiting for that cooling period. At Gamescom 2024, it was revealed that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle would be coming to the PS5.

— Hunter 🎮 (@NextGenPlayer) August 20, 2024

Current rumors suggest this release will happen in the middle of 2025, and many have stated the initial release on the intended hardware will act as a playtest for the official release on the PlayStation 5. However, Indy is not the only exclusive getting a quick release on rival hardware.

Bethesda’s Jaunt Through Hell to be Available At Launch

The Doom remake, handled by id Software, performed so well that it got a sequel, and now a third installment is slated to launch next year. Doom: The Dark Ages, developed by a substudio of Bethesda, will be available on the PlayStation 5 at launch. With Doom being a legacy franchise, it’s a major release for the studio and could have been an effective lure for Microsoft to get people to buy its hardware.

The fact that the company is launching the title on multiple platforms simultaneously seems to be an odd move on the surface. At 21.8 million consoles sold in 2023, Sony has a nearly threefold lead over Microsoft, which sits at 7.5 million systems sold in the same year.

Given such a wide gap in sales, one would expect Microsoft to take advantage of any leverage to boost its numbers.

— VGChartz (@VGChartz) August 23, 2024

Microsoft needs to tackle two challenges: the first is low sales, and the second is the expectation of day-one launches on Game Pass. The subscription service recently got a revamp in prices—a move that was not appreciated by users, and also affected game availability. The cheapest tier will now no longer feature day-one titles.

These moves may be why Microsoft wants titles such as Doom: The Dark Ages, and Indiana Jones to launch on other platforms. Public sentiment for the company has soured over the past few months due to news of layoffs, lack of new hardware announcements, and questionable partnerships.

Unless the company can make some drastic changes to how it approaches fan feedback, this sentiment might continue to degrade further.

What are your thoughts on game exclusivity and Microsoft breaking this tradition? Let us know in the comments below!