For as long as we can remember, Bethesda’s MachineGames has always only worked on the Wolfenstein series, rebooting the franchise so that modern players can experience and appreciate it. So far, its reboot has been well-received by the fans, which earned it reviews with high praises as a result.
However, it appears that this time around, MachineGames will be deviating from its usual format for its next project. According to Bethesda Softworks, developer MachineGames is currently working on a brand-new Indiana Jones game with its very own unique plot.
This news was revealed by Bethesda with the release of a short teaser trailer that shows the desk of Indiana Jones himself, which is littered with a variety of artifacts and other intriguing items that can be associated with the titular character and his adventures, like his ever iconic whip and hat, for instance.
At the end of the teaser, someone—whom we assume to be Indy—takes the hat, probably to go on another adventure. That being said, we can’t say for certain if Indiana Jones will be fighting against Nazis like in the films in this upcoming game, although it would make sense if he does given the fact that MachineGames has worked on Wolfenstein.
Sadly, the studio didn’t reveal any gameplay footage and the like to give us an idea of how the upcoming title will look like. However, Bethesda did post a follow-up to the teaser trailer revealing one last surprise to its fans.
A new Indiana Jones game with an original story is in development from our studio, @MachineGames, and will be executive produced by Todd Howard, in collaboration with @LucasfilmGames. It'll be some time before we have more to reveal, but we’re very excited to share today’s news!
— Bethesda (@bethesda) January 12, 2021
In the follow-up, the studio states that Todd Howard, who led the development of some of Bethesda’s popular titles like Fallout and The Elder Scrolls, will be the executive producer of this new Indiana Jones video game.
There’s more—Lucasfilm Games, the brand-new video game label for Lucasfilm properties that was recently revealed, will also be involved in the game’s development. That being said, Bethesda emphasizes that it probably won’t reveal anything else about the game for a while, stating that “it’ll be some time” before it has anything else to spill.
The unveiling of the new Lucasfilm Games publishing label was initially announced on the official Star Wars website, which made fans assume that the label will more or less focus on developing Star Wars titles. As such, many were surprised that its very first project will be a new Indiana Jones game.
For now, this partnership between Bethesda and Lucasfilm Games could give us a good idea of what we can expect from the studio after the Microsoft acquisition last year, which took the video game community by surprise. The acquisition is expected to get finalized this year, that is, if everything goes smoothly and no issues arise.
In other words, this could mean that the upcoming Indiana Jones title will be launched under Xbox Game Studios, although we don’t think it’s going to be an Xbox-exclusive game.
On the other hand, Bethesda and Lucasfilm Games’ collaboration was agreed upon before the Microsoft acquisition has been finalized. So, there’s still a chance that this upcoming project won’t be affected in any way by the acquisition and will be released on whatever platform the two companies have agreed on.
