Phil Spencer Explains Xbox’s Surprising Decision to Share Indiana Jones with PS5

After recent confirmation that Indiana Jones and The Great Circle would be Xbox console exclusive, Xbox Head Phil Spencer explains why it’s now coming to PS5 after Xbox.

On Tuesday, Xbox confirmed that Indiana Jones and The Great Circle would no longer be an Xbox console exclusive, and it would be coming out on the PlayStation 5 platform. This is after the Xbox Head, Phil Spencer himself, said on an Xbox podcast episode back on February 15 that the title would be an Xbox exclusive. On that same podcast, Spencer revealed other Xbox-developed titles would come to the PlayStation platform, leaving Indy as an Xbox exclusive. Today, on a stream at Gamescom 2024, Phil Spencer backtracked Xbox exclusivity when asked to comment on the PS5 release announcement.

Phil Spencer said, “Going to the PlayStation announcement, obviously, last spring we launched four games – two of them on the Switch, four of them on PlayStation – and we said we were going to learn,” continuing with, “I think at the showcase I might have said that from our learning, we’re going to do more” regarding the PS5 Indiana Jones announcement. That announcement can be seen below, courtesy of Bethesda.

Phil Spencer explains that the gaming industry’s pressure, including the obscene amount of layoffs that have happened since the beginning of 2024, has forced gaming companies to run more like “a business.” Spencer then says, “I think for us as fans and players of games, we just have to anticipate there’s going to be more change in how some of the more traditional ways that games were built and distributed – that’s going to change for all of us” concluding with “But the end result needs to be better games that more people can play. If we’re not focused on that, we’re focused on the wrong things.”

Overall, Xbox appears to be rethinking its strategy when it comes to console-exclusive releases, even when it comes to titles they’ve previously announced as Xbox console-exclusive, in favour of an approach to make games more accessible by launching them on as many platforms as possible which echoes the “every screen is an Xbox” statement made by Sarah Bond also ironically on February 15, the same day Indiana Jones and the Great Circle was announced as Xbox exclusive.