Elder Scrolls 6, Starfield Not Impacted By Indiana Jones Game

Bethesda veteran Todd Howard is the executive producer on the new Indiana Jones video game that Wolfenstein studio Machine Games is developing. Howard is also the game director on Bethesda's next-gen games Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI, while he's also the executive producer on the Fallout TV from Amazon. With so many responsibilities on his plate, people are wondering if any of Howard's projects might be impacted due to the Indiana Jones game.

That's not the case, according to Bethesda marketing boss Pete Hines. He said on Twitter that Starfield and The Elder Scrolls VI specifically are not affected by the announcement of the Indiana Jones game. "Todd is currently [executive producer] on many [Bethesda Game Studios] and other projects, such as the Fallout TV show. His main focus remains directing the upcoming Starfield and TES6 games, which aren't affected by today's news," Hines said.

Assuming the release order is unchanged from the last update, fans can expect Bethesda Game Studios to release Starfield and then The Elder Scrolls VI. It's not clear when the Indiana Jones game will release, however.

Another factor at play here is that Bethesda already committed to releasing a third Wolfenstein game to wrap up MachineGames' trilogy. It's unclear how the announcement of the Indiana Jones might affect that project, if it does at all. Asked about this, Hines told GameSpot, "I don't have any info to share beyond what's in today's announcement."

The Indiana Jones game tells an original, standalone story, but what that story is remains to be seen. The film series is known for its numerous Nazi-killing scenes, and that is definitely familiar territory for MachineGames through its work on the Wolfenstein franchise.

Assuming everything goes to plan, Microsoft's $7.5 billion acquisition of Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax will be completed later this year. Whether or not the Indiana Jones game and other future Bethesda games will be exclusive to Xbox remains to be seen, however. We don't have all the answers yet because it is illegal for Microsoft to discuss the specifics until its acquisition officially goes through.