'We Run a Business': Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer Responds to Indiana Jones Coming to PS5

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Microsoft confirmed this week that its tentpole, triple-A exclusive title, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, would in fact be a timed-exclusive on Xbox. The action-adventure title will arrive first on Xbox Series S/X, Game Pass and PC in December, before making its way to PlayStation 5 early next year, Bethesda announced at Gamescom on Tuesday. Following the confirmation, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has spoken about the company's intent and future direction when it comes to first-party games releasing on rival platforms.

Appearing on the Xbox On YouTube channel alongside Xbox president Sarah Bond, Spencer took on a question about Indiana Jones and the Great Circle launching on PS5 and said that Xbox was focussed on growing its games.

“Going to the PlayStation announcement, obviously, last spring, we launched four games — two of them on the Switch, four of them on PlayStation — and we said we were going to learn,” Spencer said. “We said we'd watch, I think at the showcase I might have said from our learning, we're going to do more,” he added, referring to Microsoft's announcement from earlier this year about launching four of its exclusive games on PlayStation and Nintendo Switch.

While Spencer did not directly connect the decision to launch Xbox games on a rival platform to business reasons, the Xbox chief said that the gaming division had to run a business and be accountable to its parent, Microsoft.

“What I see when I look is that our franchises are getting stronger, our Xbox console players are as high this year as they've ever been. So, I look at it and I say, ‘okay, our player numbers are going up for the console platform, our franchises are as strong as they've ever been… and we run a business,'” Spencer said.

“It's definitely true inside of Microsoft — the bar is high for us in terms of the delivery that we have to give back to the company, because we get a level of support from the company that's just amazing in what we're able to go do.

“So, I look