Indiana Jones and The Great Circle now has a release date. The upcoming first-person shooter/adventure game will launch on Xbox Series X/S and PC on 9 December. If you’re a PS5 owner, however, you’ll also be able to play the game in early 2025 and Microsoft confirmed it would launch before April next year.
Since the announcement, internet users have been up in arms regarding the news of an Xbox first-party game on PS5, even though this happened earlier this year with Grounded, Sea of Thieves and Hi-Fi Rush. Phil Spencer chimed in to explain why this happened.
Phil explained during the Xbox @ Gamescom Livestream that the newly adopted strategy to launch Xbox games on PS5 is working for Microsoft. Spencer says that the gaming industry is under pressure at the moment and there has to be change to help it grow. The health of the Xbox platform and the growing games at Microsoft are the most important things. This means allowing more players the opportunity to play the game and as a result, make money.
“Our 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.”
Spencer followed up by explaining that Xbox is a business and stressed the importance of giving back to Microsoft. Of course, this is related to making money for the company and showing the investors that the Xbox brand isn’t a waste of their money.
He doesn’t say exactly that but it is implied that money needs to come in. Given the recent reports that Xbox Game Pass hasn’t brought in the revenue it was expected to and that Xbox console sales are at an all-time low, this makes sense.
Keep in mind that Microsoft just spent $69 billion purchasing Activision Blizzard. So it needs to recoup these costs in any way possible. Business is business and if selling Xbox games on PS5 makes money, it will be that way.
“And we run a business. It’s definitely true inside of Microsoft the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery we have to give back to the company. Because we get a level of support from the company that’s just amazing and what we’re able to go do. So I look at this, how can we make our games as strong as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on console, on PC, and on cloud. It’s just going to be a strategy that works for us.”
Microsoft hasn’t confirmed if other games outside of Indiana Jones or DOOM: The Dark Ages will arrive on PS5 at this point. Reports claim various studios are working on ports of Halo and Forza Horizon 5.
Source: YouTube
