Sean Shoptaw, senior VP of gaming at Disney, has revealed why the company allowed Microsoft to drop Indiana Jones‘ PS5 version. The MachineGames-developed title was originally planned for multiple platforms, including the PS5 per Bethesda‘s agreement with Disney, but following its acquisition by Microsoft, the Xbox maker renegotiated the contract.
Leaving out Indiana Jones on PS5 isn’t “overly exclusionary,” says Disney
During a recent interview, Axios quizzed Shoptaw about renegotiating the terms of the deal with Bethesda after Microsoft stepped in, to which the executive said that Disney didn’t feel like it would make too much of a difference leaving PS5 out.
“Xbox still being one of the bigger marketplaces for games, we didn’t feel like we were going to be overly exclusionary,” Shoptaw said. “We felt like it’s still going to reach a broad set of folks, and we felt, financially and strategically for the game, that made sense at the time.”
It is worth noting that Indiana Jones is also being released on PC, so it will reach a wide audience. Sony has similar deals for Marvel games like Spider-Man and Wolverine, except they are PlayStation console exclusive for a number of years after launch.
Elsewhere, Shoptaw was asked about the troubled PS5 exclusive Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic remake, to which he didn’t have much to say except that Disney’s happy to see high demand for the title.
