

"You’re dealing with a licensor who is giving a ton of feedback on what you’re making, is going to add a ton of time to your scheduling, these agreements, you don’t get to take as long as you want, you have a window of time in which you’re going to release a game, you immediately have a clock that’s ticking on you," Hines said. Asked why Indiana Jones was ultimately amenda, Pete Hines attributed it to "reducing risk and trying to get a degree of clarity." Hines said that he was told by Spencer in a subsequent call that Bethesda should continue to look at title exclusivity on a case-by-case basis. The downside for Xbox…is that a large percentage of output from Bethesda won’t directly benefit the Xbox community in any way," Spencer wrote in January 2021. "The upside here is a game coming from Bethesda that everyone will be excited about. “While it is not in our messaging, I think it is important to highlight that Lucasfilm brought up the issue of platforms because we have a signed agreement with them to develop the game for multiple consoles," read an email between Hines, Xbox CEO Phil Spencer, Xbox Studios head Matt Booty, and several other executives.

Several emails and conversations shown during the trial added additional color to the decision to make Indiana Jones a platform exclusive. Hines said the game is currently set to hit Game Pass on day one. After the Bethesda acquisition, the agreement with Disney was amended to transition the Indiana Jones game to an Xbox and PC exclusive. During today's trial between Xbox/Activision and the Federal Trade Commission, Bethesda's Pete Hines revealed that Disney had an agreement with ZeniMax for a multiplatform AAA Indiana Jones game.
