UPDATE:According to Bethesda’s Pete Hines, the tease was not intentional. Todd Howard owns a lot ofIndiana Jonesmerchandise and is a lifelong fan of the franchise.
The announcement of a newIndiana Jonesvideo game has been huge, but eagle-eyed fans are pointing out the game’s very existence may have been teased several months ago.
Popular, and now Microsoft-owned, developer Bethesda Game Studios took to Twitter to post a short teaser trailer. In the teaser, the camera pans across a desk scattered with increasingly familiar objects, with an equally familiar theme’s first few notes. Viewers will notice that, in addition to seeing logos from Bethesda andWolfensteindeveloper MachineGames, the new title is alsounder the new Lucasfilm Games umbrella.
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The theory of the yet-to-be-namedIndiana Jonesgame’s early tease stems from eagle-eyed fans looking at a specific tweet from November 2020. The Game Awards creator and host Geoff Keighley hosted Zoom calls with various industry pros in the weeks leading up to the annual awards show. One such call was with Bethesda executive Todd Howard, who had some now-suspicious objects sitting in the background. In the image, viewers can see none other than both the Ark of the Covenant and Idol fromRaiders of the Lost Ark. While it’s highly unlikely anyone would’ve made that conclusion just from the props in the background, many fans are now considering it an obvious Easter egg.
A follow-up tweet clarifies that theIndiana Jonestitle, which Howard is serving as executive producer on, will be a standalone adventure set at the height of the archaeologist’s career. Despite the seemingly overt connection of the Ark and Idol replicas, some gamers think it may have just been a coincidence. In an official Bethesda blog, SVP of Global Marketing Pete Hines said Todd Howard is a lifelong Indy fan, and has been, “trying for over a decade to make this game.” Therefore it’s certainly possible that he has finally gotten his wish. Given the backing of Bethesda and MachineGames, some fans expect it to be one ofthe bestIndiana Jonesgames of all time.
It should also be noted that the upcoming video game doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the fifth installment of theIndiana Jonesfilm franchise. The upcoming movie, which features Harrison Ford donning the hat and whip for likely the last time, has been a developmental hot mess. After multiple script re-writes, creative differences led to director Steven Spielberg’s departure, who helmed all the films prior. Fortunately,the film is moving forward withLogandirectorJames Mangold.
Bethesda does stress that, “It’ll be some time” before any further content is revealed, so Indy fans will have to sit tight for the time being. In the meantime, gamers can check out the recently surfaced files ofa canceledIndiana Jonesgame, which was also at one point aTomb Raidergame,and at another point forNational Treasure.
