MachineGames’ Indiana Jones Game is Based on an Original Story by Todd Howard

Bethesda's Todd Howard talks about MachineGames' upcoming Indiana Jones game, and how much he's involved in its development.

Posted By | On 10th, Nov. 2021

indiana jones

MachineGames has primarily been known as the Wolfenstein studio in recent years, but it seems like that won’t be the case for much longer. Earlier this year, parent company Bethesda announced that MachineGames was working on an Indiana Jones game, and that Todd Howard of The Elder Scrolls and Fallout game (and Starfield, soon enough) will be serving as an executive producer on the project.

With Howard currently directing Starfield though, and with The Elder Scrolls 6 next in line demanding his attention after that, it’s fair to say that at least the next half decade is looking pretty packed for him. What exactly is his involvement in the Indiana Jones game then? When asked about the same in a recent interview with IGN, Howard explained that unlike the games he directs, projects that he’s executive producing are games that he isn’t as hands on with and usually checks in on every now and then, and that the former always remains his main focus.

“When I executive produce things, that’s a game that I’m kind of checking in on,” Howard said. “It’s not a daily thing, it might be once a week, it might be once a month, depending on the state of the game. There’s a number of things that I executive produce, and then If I’m directing a game, that’s more of a daily activity.”

Howard went on to explain that he had originally pitched an Indiana Jones game to LucasArts over a decade ago, and though that project couldn’t get off the ground, he sparked the conversation with them once more following their acquisition by Disney, at which point MachineGames emerged as a possible candidate to work on the game in his eyes.

“Internally, I really love the work MachineGames does,” Howard added. “Everybody knows each other really, really well. And I mentioned to them, ‘hey, is this something that might interest you?'”

“I think [The Chronicles of] Riddick on the original Xbox [developed by Starbreeze Studios, with several members of the current MachineGames team] is unbelievable,” he said. “Like, you look at the tech level of that game at the time, before DOOM– it’s amazing. And the work they’ve done on Wolfenstein and scenes and characters, I just think they’re incredible developers. And so I brought it up to them, ‘hey, is this something that might interest you?’ And they said, ‘absolutely.’ And they’re good at the Nazi stuff, right?”

Howard went on to talk about his own role on the project, revealing that the game is based on an original Indiana Jones story by him that he and MachineGames then worked on and developed together. He went on to add that the Swedish studio is “doing an amazing job” with the game, and that he’s “just happy to lend a hand” and work on the project in some capacity.

“So they’re making the game, I’m involved creatively, like ‘hey, what’s the game going to be?'” he said. “I had this original story and we’ve worked on it sort of together. I spend a little bit of time on it, they’re running with it, they’re doing an amazing job. I’m just happy to lend a hand and be involved.”

As for when the Indiana Jones game will be out, it probably won’t be anytime soon. Earlier this year, Bethesda’s Pete Hines said that the game was in the “very, very, very early stages of production.”


Amazing Articles You Might Want To Check Out!

Share Your Thoughts Below  (Always follow our comments policy!)



Keep On Reading!

Cronos: The New Dawn Opted for Sci-Fi Premise to Distinguish it From Silent Hill 2 Remake

Cronos: The New Dawn Opted for Sci-Fi Premise to Distinguish it From Silent Hill 2 Remake

Director and designer Wojciech Piejko reveals the developer "didn't want to overlap with, let's say, a more gr...

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Patch 4.1 Nerfs Extremis Spawns and Buffs Weapons in Operations

Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2 – Patch 4.1 Nerfs Extremis Spawns and Buffs Weapons in Operations

Game director Dmitriy Grigorenko also confirms public test servers will arrive in early 2025 to test changes b...

Zenless Zone Zero – Version 1.3 Livestream Set for October 25th

Zenless Zone Zero – Version 1.3 Livestream Set for October 25th

The livestream features Lighter and Tsukishiro Yanagi and will provide details for the next big update, "Virtu...

Control 2 Seemingly Teased in Alan Wake 2: The Lake House DLC

Control 2 Seemingly Teased in Alan Wake 2: The Lake House DLC

Remedy Entertainment has seemingly snuck the first glimpses of Control 2 into the recently-released second DLC...

Ubisoft Says it Has “Started an Exploration Phase on the Rayman Brand”

Ubisoft Says it Has “Started an Exploration Phase on the Rayman Brand”

Following recent reports that a Rayman remake is in the works, Ubisoft has stated that it has started explorin...

EA Sports FC 25, Astro Bot Were the US’ Bestselling Games in September

EA Sports FC 25, Astro Bot Were the US’ Bestselling Games in September

Other new releases such as The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine 2, and others...