Despite prominent Disney-owned Marvel heroes like Spider-Man and Wolverine having long-term deals on Sony’s PlayStation 5, Xbox has deals for a few Disney properties of its own including Marvel’s Blade and Lucasfilm’s Indiana Jones and the Great Circle. Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously expressed his wariness towards licensed games, but he recently praised Disney and Lucasfilm for being strong partners on their upcoming projects together.
“I feel great about our partnership with Lucas and Disney,” Spencer told Game File. “They’ve been good partners. We’re obviously doing Blade with Arkane Lyon with them. I was just out there visiting with that team.”
During the same interview, Spencer explained that one of the reasons he dislikes dealing with licensed titles is that the licenses can expire, which leads to games being delisted over time. Instead, he prefers to focus on IP owned by Microsoft’s umbrella of developers and studios. But for games like Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, Spencer is willing to make some exceptions in part because the developer–MachineGames–has such an intense passion for the property.