Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, a brand-new Xbox exclusive, is now available for Xbox and PC players as of December 9.
It won’t hit the PlayStation 5 until spring 2025. In a chat with Variety, Matt Booty, Xbox’s game content chief, shared insights into how they decide which Xbox games might end up on other platforms. “We are very much making the [exclusivity and windowing] decisions on a game-by-game basis,” Booty explained, echoing previous statements from the Xbox team.
Each studio under Microsoft’s wing faces unique circumstances, though Booty didn’t dive into specifics about how this affects exclusivity. Timing of game releases on rival consoles like PlayStation is influenced by how long it takes to produce the game, he mentioned.
“We want to make sure there’s a great experience for our Xbox players, and then the gap between [when it becomes available on PlayStation] is as much a production decision as it is anything else. This is a game that was in production before we acquired Bethesda, even,” Booty added.
In 2020, Microsoft set plans in motion to buy ZeniMax, which owns Bethesda, and completed the acquisition in 2021.
By owning ZeniMax, Microsoft knew that making games like Starfield and The Great Circle exclusive to Xbox would mean fewer sales, but hoped Game Pass and console sales would make up for it. Fans often wonder if these choices are really worth it.
Early in 2024, Microsoft said Game Pass had 34 million subscribers, but hasn’t updated this number since. The launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 did help increase subscriptions. However, US research firm Circana noted that Xbox Series X|S sales fell 18% in October 2024 compared to the same month the previous year (PS5 and Switch sales also took a hit).
Though The Great Circle will eventually land on PS5 in spring 2025, Microsoft hasn’t nailed down a release date or shared more details about it. For now, you can check out GameSpot’s review and guides to get started with the game.
In the past year, other Microsoft games like Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Pentiment, and Hi-Fi Rush have made their way to PlayStation, and sometimes Switch. Minecraft has been available on PlayStation and Switch for years, too.
