Bethesda surprised the gaming world with an out-of-nowhere announcement that Wolfenstein developer MachineGames is working on an Indiana Jones game in partnership with Lucasfilm. Bethesda veteran Todd Howard is producing the game, and it turns out that Howard might have dropped clues about the project a few months back.

　　People online have discovered that, in the background of a September 2020 interview discussing Bethesda's sale to Microsoft, Howard's enormous bookshelf includes three or more items from the Indiana Jones series. You can clearly see that Howard is an Indiana Jones collector, as he has models of the Ark of the Covenant, the Golden Idol, and what appears to be the headpiece to the Staff of Ra from the film series.

　　For what it's worth, Howard also has items from Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings on his shelf. Even if he wasn't intentionally teasing the forthcoming announcement of the Indiana Jones game, it's pretty evident that Howard is a fan of the franchise.

　　Considering it that way, it's exciting to think about Howard bringing his own personal admiration for the Indiana Jones series to the new game, which will tell a standalone, original story in the universe.

　　Before this, it was discovered that Xbox boss Phil Spencer actually had the new Xbox Series S console on his own bookshelf, clearly visible, months before the system was announced.

　　It is still very early days for the Indiana Jones game, and Bethesda has told fans to not expect much in the way of news about the game anytime soon. There are plenty of unanswered questions about the project, including its release date and platforms.

　　Microsoft is in the process of acquiring Bethesda and parent company ZeniMax, so it's unknown at this stage if the Indiana Jones game will be exclusive to Xbox/PC or if it will be a multiplatform release. We'll report back with more details as they are made available.

　　What we do know is that the new Indiana Jones game is being developed in partnership with Lucasfilm Games, the recently formed outfit that oversees games based on Lucasfilm properties.

　　MachineGames had said it would release a third Wolfenstein game to wrap up the trilogy, but it's unclear how the news of this Indiana Jones game may affect that, if it does at all.