In the last 5 years, we have seen Microsoft launch an aggressive campaign to dominate the video game industry, gobbling up major studios such as Activision and Bethesda. Despite costing them billions of dollars and spending months tied up in court, Microsoft has seemingly managed to rival Sony and Nintendo for platform-exclusive titles. Rumors are that they didn’t land Indiana Jones, but instead, it will be premiering on PlayStation 5.
In a recent tweet from Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer, he alluded to some big changes coming within the next week. He said, “We’re listening and we hear you. We’ve been planning a business update event for next week, where we look forward to sharing more details with you about our vision for the future of Xbox. Stay tuned.”
Many believe these changes will involve Xbox allowing several large exclusive titles to be released on the rival platform, Playstation. One of these upcoming titles is Bethesda’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, which is slated to be released on Xbox and PC in December of this year.
If rumors are to be believed, the new Indiana Jones game will be launching on PlayStation 5 in the not-too-distant future, with other Xbox-exclusive titles to join them as well. This indicates that Microsoft is regretting their decision to cut off consumers who play on other consoles. It also points to a lack of faith that Microsoft has in their recently acquired studios to produce a solid title.
Speaking of which, Bethesda has had an especially difficult time lately living up to its well-established reputation. Despite being a staple in many gamer’s libraries, several Bethesda titles have drawn the ire of fans and critics alike, not least of which was last year’s highly anticipated letdown, Starfield.
Now Bethesda has been handed the keys to the Indiana Jones kingdom, and early indications are that this game will be dead on arrival. Whether it’s simply a disdain for the traditional male audience or it’s agenda-driven as we’ve seen with companies such as Sweet Baby Inc, there is an undeniable push in the gaming industry to humiliate and effeminate masculine characters.
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This modernizing of “problematic” men will never be compatible with Indiana Jones. He was a rugged, masculine, adventure-seeking archeologist who carried a whip, punched Nazis, and had but one fear; snakes. From his debut in The Raiders of the Lost Ark in 1981, fans far and wide have come to adore the titular character played by veteran actor Harrison Ford.
Created by George Lucas, the same man who gave us the legendary Star Wars Universe, Indiana Jones seemed to embody everything great about being an American man. He was handsome and brave, and no challenge was too great for him to take on. The trilogy ended with a memorable ride into the sunset in The Last Crusade, and for many of us, that’s where the story concluded.
Then, in 2008, there was that ill-fated attempt to relive the “glory days.” The result was The Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a film so infamously bad that the few who actually enjoyed it dared not admit it out loud. This was recently followed up by last year’s release of The Dial of Destiny, featuring an 80-year-old Harrison Ford looking every bit his age and much less like the dashing hero he once portrayed.
This was one of the many films Disney released in 2023 that lost them several hundred million dollars. Fans had no interest in seeing a frail, senile version of their childhood hero on the silver screen, and fewer fans are likely to purchase or play a game that lectures them about their “toxic masculinity” or “white privilege.”
While PlayStation fans may be momentarily excited at the prospect of Xbox removing exclusivity, that excitement will wain once they’ve actually played Starfield for themselves.
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