Highlights
- Movie games were once popular but slowly faded into obscurity. That may change with Indiana Jones and 007 games by Bethesda and IO Interactive respectively.
- Indiana Jones and the Great Circle will likely launch before Project 007, potentially setting a bar for other modern movie-based games.
- Both games have unique challenges to overcome, but as movie-related games, Indiana Jones and 007's successes and failures may inevitably be compared to each other.
Back in the day, movie games were very common. Seemingly every new release would have a video game tie-in or some completely unrelated original game inspired by the new movie. It was never hard to find games from such popular franchises as Indiana Jones and 007. Movie games from these hit IPs were often developed by highly reputable developers such as LucasArts, Rare, EA, Treyarch, and Eurocom. Over time, however, games from movie properties began to slowly fade into obscurity to the point that they were seemingly lost. That is, until Bethesda's Indiana Jones and the Great Circle as well as IO Interactive's Project 007 were announced.
After having been announced back in January 2021, Bethesda and MachineGames' Indiana Jones and the Great Circle finally received its release date during an Xbox developer direct in January 2024. Set to be released in 2024, this original Indiana Jones game will likely launch before Project 007, which does not yet have an official release date. The fact that Indiana Jones is set to be released first could either make or break the release of 007 by setting an expectation of what modern games based on movie characters should be. It has been a long time since either of these IPs have been made into AAA games, and regardless of how different they may be, they will likely still be compared to one another.
Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Release Date Narrowed Down in New Report
The release window for Xbox's much anticipated Indiana Jones and the Great Circle game has seemingly been shrunken down according to a new report.
How Indiana Jones and the Great Circle Can Make Or Break The James Bond Game
Bethesda Is Resetting The Standard Of Movie Games
The modern landscape of game development is very different from what it was at the height of movie franchise video games. LucasArts Indiana Jones point-and-click games such as Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis were the pinnacle of the classic film franchise in gaming at the time, although the platformers were also great. It seems that Bethesda and MachineGames are looking to capture both the cinematic storytelling and exciting action gameplay that one would expect from an Indiana Jones game while innovating for the future.
Although executive producer Todd Howard has many successful games under his belt, his track record is not without criticism. Some fans often criticize a lack of polish or missing mechanics in the games he has directed at Bethesda, particularly the modern releases. Examples of this are in games such as Starfield and Fallout 4, which have both been topics of extended debate.
As games become larger and more complex to develop, they are occasionally released without all the features that were planned or promised. If Indiana Jones and the Great Circle is to succeed, it will have to launch as a fully polished game.
IO Interactive Is Prepared To Make 007
If MachineGame's Indiana Jones is a huge success, all eyes will be on 007 to live up to the hype. Regardless, though, Project 007 is likely to be a strong contender and a unique game in its own right. Though not necessarily a direct competitor to Indy, the fact that they are both modern "movie games" and that Indiana Jones was originally in some ways inspired by the James Bond films, they will likely be compared to one another.
Much like MachineGames' past in the Wolfenstein franchise has prepared it to make Indiana Jones, IO Interactive's experience with the Hitman games has set the developer up for success with Project 007. The popularity of Hitman has only grown over the years, and its successful formula seems like the ideal foundation for the 007 game. IO will have the popularity of both IPs on its side when Project 007 is released in the future. Though it may be a long way away still, the success of Project 007 will inevitably be couched in the context of Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Bethesda
Bethesda is an American game development studio based in Maryland. They're best known for the Elder Scrolls and Fallout series. ZeniMax Media, Bethesda's parent company, was acquired by Microsoft in 2021, which then made it a part of Xbox Game Studios.
- Date Founded
- June 28, 1986
- Parent Company
- Microsoft