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Xbox boss Phil Spencer says 'the end result has to be better games that more people can play' following announcement of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for PS5

Xbox boss Phil Spencer says 'the end result has to be better games that more people can play' following announcement of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle for PS5

Perhaps the biggest announcement of Gamescom Opening Night Live, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle has been officially confirmed for PlayStation 5 after previously being slated to launch as an Xbox and PC exclusive title. Now, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has explained the surprise release, calling it a business move by the company.

During the Microsoft Gamescom livestream, Spencer was asked what the decision was to bring Indiana Jones for PS5 could mean for future Xbox releases in relation to its ongoing multi-platform push, which recently saw Penance, Grounded, Hi-Fi feverand Sea of Thieves reach more platforms.

“Obviously, last spring we launched four games, two of them on Switch, four of them on PlayStation, and we said we were going to learn,” Spencer said. “We said we would watch. I think at Showcase I might have said that, based on our learning, we're going to do more.”

“What I see, when I look at it, is that our franchises are getting stronger. Our Xbox consoles have the highest player count this year that they've ever had. So I look at that and I say, well, the number of players is increasing on the console platform. Our franchises are stronger than ever.”

Xbox boss Phil Spencer answers a question about how Indiana Jones on PS5 connects to how/when this happens with other Xbox titles: “We have to anticipate there will be more changes to some of the traditional ways that games are made and distributed. That's going to… pic.twitter.com/Kd9xF9I8VMAugust 21, 2024

Spencer continued, alluding that the cross-platform push is also part of attracting more money to Microsoft following the publisher's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.

“We run a company,” he said. “It's true that within Microsoft we have a very high standard of what we have to offer to the company, because we get a level of support from the company that is just incredible and what we can do.”

“So I look at this [as]”How can we make our games as powerful as possible? Our platform continues to grow, on consoles, on PC, and in the cloud. I think that will be a strategy that works for us.”

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will launch as a timed exclusive on December 9 for Xbox Series X|S and PC, before coming to PS5 in spring 2025.