Last week it was revealed that MachineGames will be working on an Indiana Jones game. Let’s take a look at why this team-up should make you excited.
This past week, LucasArts renamed its gaming division LucasFilm Games. This name change was compared to the change that Marvel Games went through less than a decade ago.LucasFilm Games will be taking the same route on which Marvel Games has found success. Instead of giving one developer access to the IP, it will instead hand out properties to certain developers they know can do a great job.LucasFilm Games has set itself on a new path that will bring a new point of view to the franchises we know and love.Indiana Jones is a popular franchise that hasn’t seen new films or games in a long time. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was the last film to be released in 2008. The last game was Lego Indiana Jones 2: The Adventure Continues, which was released in 2009.Nathan Drake is based off of Indiana Jones. Travelling the globe, discovering legendary treasures, and taking down bad guys are some of the reasons why these two characters are similar. We all know how successful the Uncharted franchise has been, so it is exciting to see Indiana Jones in a similar style adventure like the ones we’ve played through as Nathan Drake.
MachineGames has only worked on the Wolfenstein series since its creation in 2009.The Wolfenstein reboot series has been praised for its combat, character development, and narrative. Giving MachineGames the opportunity to take on the world of Indiana Jones will not only let it take what it already knows and put it in the game, but push it to create an original story for a beloved character and gameplay that will match.MachineGames brought Wolfenstein back into the mainstream, and with each installment of the reboot, it proves why it is the only developer that can make this game amazing.The first thing that stands out is the gunplay. Wolfenstein is a fantastic first-person shooter and the gun mechanics stand out. Each weapon you wield feels amazing and authentic. It will be a big challenge for this team to work on Indiana Jones since he mostly uses his whip for combat.
Since MachineGames is under the Bethesda umbrella of developers, which Microsoft now owns, it isn’t clear whether this game will be exclusive to Xbox or not.When the Bethesda deal was announced last year, head of Xbox, Phil Spencer, came out and said that platform exclusivity could vary based on the game. While this does mean bigger titles from Bethesda could potentially release on other consoles, Indiana Jones would be the perfect title to keep in the Xbox ecosystem.With all the excitement around Indiana Jones, it makes sense for this game to be an exclusive compared to other titles. MachineGames isn’t the biggest star under the Bethesda umbrella. If you take a look at id Software or Bethesda Game Studios, they both have titles that have made a name for themselves in video game history. MachineGames hasn’t reached that atmosphere yet.If the Wolfenstein franchise sold better and was amazingly received by players, MachineGames could be seen as an elite developer of games. It is possible for Indiana Jones to get them to that threshold of developer status. If MachineGames was working on Starfield or The Elder Scrolls VI, those games have tremendous hype surrounding them, and could possibly sell and review well, that would bring MachineGames to that next-level status. Even with those exciting games on the way, Microsoft is still a business and would want to make as much money as possible so I don’t think bigger titles like those will only see the light of day on the Xbox consoles.Last week, I took a look at the future of the Bethesda studios and what they could be working on in the future. Each studio under that umbrella has a project coming out soon, or created a new IP. The only studios that don’t have a confirmed major project going on at the moment are id Software and MachineGames.
Since MachineGames is working on the final installment of the Wolfenstein series, we aren’t sure when that game is coming out, and when Indiana Jones could possibly be released.Wolfenstein: The New Order released in 2014, with its sequel, The New Colossus, releasing in 2017. It would be easy to believe we could see Wolfenstein III release in the Fall of 2021 or 2022.With Indiana Jones being announced last week, it isn’t clear how far into development MachineGames actually is or if the studio has a completely separate team working on it. If we receive Wolfenstein III this year, 2026 would be my best guess. That would give Indiana Jones a five-to-six-year development cycle.
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