Despite prominent Disney-owned Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine having long-term deals on Sony’s PlayStation 5, Xbox has deals for a few Disney properties of its own including Marvel’s Blade and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously expressed his wariness towards licensed games, but he recently praised Disney and Lucasfilm for being strong partners on their upcoming projects together.
“I feel great about our partnership with Lucas and Disney,” Spencer told Game File. “They’ve been good partners. We’re obviously doing Blade with Arkane Lyon with them. I was just out there visiting with that team.”
During the same interview, Spencer explained that one of the reasons he dislikes dealing with licensed titles is that the licenses can expire, which leads to games being delisted over time. Instead, he prefers to focus on IP owned by Microsoft’s umbrella of developers and studios. But for games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Spencer is willing to make some exceptions in part because the developer–MachineGames–has such an intense passion for the property.
“I think what you see in Indiana Jones is a team that really loves Indiana Jones and that world,” related Spencer. “The story is, to me, one of the strongest parts of that game–the way you feel like you’re Indiana Jones from a first person perspective. So it’s clear that’s something they wanted to do. But, for us, given the [intellectual property] that we have that we own, I’m a big fan of us using the IP that we haven’t even revisited.”
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will is coming to Xbox Series X|S and PC on December 9, while PlayStation 5 fans will have to wait until Spring 2025. In the meantime, Microsoft and IHOP are launching an Indiana Jones-themed menu starting today, November 18. Members of IHOP’s International Bank of Pancakes will also be able to use their receipts to earn “PanCoins” that can be redeemed for Xbox prizes or even a new line of limited-edition cups featuring Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Halo Infinite, and Sea of Thieves designed by Xbox artist Matt Taylor.