Bethesda announces Indiana Jones video game – and it could be an Xbox exclusive

Studio behind Fallout and Elder Scrolls shared a short teaser trailer on social media

Bethesda Softworks has announced a new Indiana Jones video game in a short teaser video shared on social media.

The as-yet-untitled game will feature a wholly original story centring around Harrison Ford’s iconic whip-cracking archaeologist. 

Bethesda, the company behind the popular Fallout and Elder Scrolls franchises, wrote on Twitter: “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!”

The message followed a short video in which a camera pans over CGI recreations of several famous Indiana Jones artefacts, while the franchise’s theme song can be heard in the background.

Indiana Jones has been the subject of several video games in years past, including  the PS2-era Indiana Jones and the Emperor's Tomb  (2003), and Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings, which was released on the Wii, Nintendo DS, PSP and PS2 in 2009.

An Indiana Jones film sequel is also currently in development, with Ford set to reprise the role of death-defying academic Dr Henry Jones Jr.

It was announced last year that Bethesda is being acquired by Microsoft, leading some to speculate that the forthcoming Indiana Jones game could be released exclusively on Xbox consoles, as Xbox is owned by Microsoft.

Xbox boss Phil Spencer suggested to Bloomberg last year that the matter of console exclusivity on future Bethesda games would be determined “on a case-by-case basis”.

Machine Games is a Swedish developer best known for the Wolfenstein series. It has been owned by Bethesda’s parent company, ZeniMax Media, since 2010.