Microsoft announced the first Xbox presentation of 2024 on Xbox Wire: another Developer_Direct meant to provide insight on upcoming first-party titles. Of the four games confirmed for the January 18 event so far, the most surprising of the bunch is the Indiana Jones title from MachineGames.
This Indiana Jones game was announced by MachineGames in January 2021, just prior to the completion of Microsoft’s acquisition of ZeniMax Media. Bethesda Games Studios’ Todd Howard is apparently a big fan of the Lucasfilm franchise and is working closely with the developers of the Wolfenstein reboot games to craft this new adventure. Bethesda has not stated much publicly about it since then, although its Xbox exclusivity came up during the FTC trial Microsoft was engaged in 2023.
“MachineGames, the award-winning studio behind the recent Wolfenstein series, will reveal their upcoming Indiana Jones game, an action-adventure that puts players in the leather jacket of the legendary archaeologist,” the Xbox Wire post explains. “Developer_Direct will showcase more than 10 minutes of game and developer insights, including details about the game’s setting and story, how fans will actually play as Indy, additional details from his next globe-trotting adventure, and the premiere of the first gameplay trailer.”
Essentially, this Developer_Direct will finally reveal what this Indiana Jones game actually is and how it will play, allowing fans to set their expectations on the title more accurately. That teaser statement does not allude to a release date, so it’s currently unknown if such a reveal will be part of the show.
As for what else you should expect from the second ever Developer_Direct, which takes place at 12 p.m. PT on January 18, three more games are confirmed to appear. It’ll also contain extended looks at Obsidian Entertainment’s RPG Avowed, Oxide Games’ 4X strategy game Ara: History Untold, and Ninja Theory’s cinematic action game Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II. A Global Reveal event for The Elder Scrolls Online will also begin at 1 p.m. PT, right after the Developer_Direct wraps up.
Microsoft says no Activision Blizzard-related announcements will pop up at the event but teases that players “can look forward to news from those teams later this year.”