Indiana Jones PS5 launch decision explained by Microsoft

Microsoft gamers on Xbox and PC are currently enjoying the brand new Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game, while PS5 users are on the outside looking in.

As this is a Bethesda game and Bethesda is owned by Microsoft, this wouldn’t usually be considered outside the norm. However, given Microsoft is pretty much abandoning the decades-long practice of using first-party exclusive games to drive hardware sales, it’s not entirely without surprise.

PS5 gamers will get the game eventually, but not until next Spring, at least four months from now.

Microsoft says the decision to hold off on giving PS5 gamers access to this AAA title, which has earned rave reviews thus far, was down to ensuring Xbox owners have a great experience out of the gate. He called it a “production decision” rather than one grounded in console politics of yesteryear and the potential to push Xbox sales ahead of the busy Christmas period.

“We are very much making the [exclusivity and windowing] decisions on a game by game basis,” Matt Booty, the Microsoft president of game content and studios, told Variety.

“And each of our studios is in a little bit of a different position. There’s also the production timeline on a game, so the decision on spacing comes there first.

“We want to make sure there’s a great experience for our Xbox players, and then the gap between [when it becomes available on PlayStation] is as much a production decision as it is anything else. This is a game that was in production before we acquired Bethesda, even.”

Just this year, Microsoft has spread the wealth of its first-party exclusives with the likes of Sea of Thieves, Grounded, Hi-Fi Rush, and Pentiment crossing the great console divide.

Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is available outside of PC rigs and Xbox consoles via the Game Pass Ultimate subscription, which allows games to be streamed from the cloud without the source hardware.

So, PS5 owners can play it, just not on their console. A modern Samsung TV or an Amazon Fire TV device will do the trick.