Xbox boss Phil Spencer has suggested there might be franchise potential for MachineGames' acclaimed Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but he also wants to focus on making more original Xbox IP.
In an interview with Variety, Spencer is asked point blank if there are plans for MachineGames to continue Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as a series, and as expected, the media-trained Xbox executive had no plans to drop major news like that partway through an interview. That said, he did confirm Xbox is "really happy" with the game and teased a potential future.
"We do think there’s life in that franchise, and I’m just gonna leave it at that," Spencer said, pivoting, "We’re launching on PlayStation here pretty soon. I think that’ll be a cool moment."
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is releasing on PS5 on April 17.
Spencer went on to praise MachineGames for its ability to "do something so unique" with a world and IP created by a different company, but said he wants to see more original Xbox games - that is, games based on Xbox-created IP - in the future.
"Going forward, I also want to give the teams the ability to do our own games and our own franchises," Spencer said. "We have a lot of room to tell new stories, as well. And I want to make sure that’s an option for us."
Just this year Xbox has released Obsidian's action-RPG Avowed and Compulsion Games' South of Midnight, both developed by in-house Xbox Game Studios games. Yet, despite the upcoming premiere of the Minecraft movie, Spencer said there aren't any plans to shift Xbox's focus away from games.
"I want our team staying very focused on, we’re a video game organization," said Spencer. "Now, we can build worlds that can support these things showing up in traditional media, I think that’s awesome. But I’m really trying to keep us focused on being a great creator of interactive entertainment, video games, and then if these other opportunities show up, great. But we start most IP, almost all of our new IP, with, how is it going to play?"
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