Phil Spencer Explained Why Indiana Jones is Coming to PS5

We know a few things about the upcoming Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game from MachineGames and Xbox Game Studios. Firstly, thanks to an exciting Gamescom announcement, we know that the title is arriving on Xbox Series X|S on December 9, 2024. We also know that it’s not staying an Xbox exclusive for long. Xbox head Phil Spencer and his team announced that Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will come to PS5 in the spring of next year. We have to turn to the Xbox chief Phil Spencer for the company’s reasoning.

Xbox has never denied that they want games everywhere players are. Sure, the strategy is to put the Xbox ecosystem, specifically Game Pass, on as many pieces of hardware as possible. That said, earlier this year Xbox chief Phil Spencer was a part of the announcement that titles such as Pentiment, Hi-Fi Rush, and Sea of Thieves would head to PS5. At that time, Spencer said that decisions on upcoming titles going cross-platform would be a title-by-title decision. At the time, that meant adding that Starfield would stay exclusive.

During an Xbox at Gamescom showcase stream, Spencer mentioned that the success of bringing those titles over to PS5 was successful. He explained that “franchises are getting stronger. Our Xbox console players are as high this year as they’ve ever been. So I look at it and I say, okay, our player numbers are going up for the console platform. Our franchises are as strong as they’ve ever been.” Stronger here means more money, if you’re keeping score at home. For Microsoft, which has spent billions acquiring companies like Bethesda and Activision, the return on investment is crucial.

All of this comes amidst layoffs in the Xbox wing of Microsoft and a waning belief that owning an Xbox console truly means access to real exclusives. A lot of the online discourse from Xbox console owners has been fueled by disappointment. It’s not fair to call these concerns console wars woes either; if Xbox Game Studios games come to PS5 eventually, then many wonder what the value is in owning an Xbox.

There’s probably a more fleshed-out editorial brewing in my brain, but for now, the moral of the story is that if Indiana Jones and the Great Circle can come to PS5, any title seems up for the cross-play treatment. If you’re excited and waiting for the title, you have a few months to go. Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will be released on Xbox Series X|S on December 9, 2024. The PS5 release will take place sometime in Spring 2025.