It’s an exciting start to the year for Indiana Jones fans, as according to Xbox itself, we’re finally getting an actual look at MachineGames’ upcoming Indiana Jones game next week at the Xbox Developer Direct. But a week in advance, one clever fan might have already sleuthed out the game’s title before Xbox was ready to reveal it. It might just be called Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Twitter/X user @Kurakasis shared their findings on social media today, pointing out that Lucasfilm appears to have been registering a number of domain names that are variations on that title since yesterday. These include https://indianajonesandthegreatcirclegame.com, https://indianajonesandthegreatcircle.com, and a number of others.
These domains dovetail nicely with a trademark Lucasfilm filed in Europe two years ago for “The Great Circle” that seems to be related to video games specifically. It is worth noting that Lucasfilm seems to have had circles on the mind on that date in 2022, as the company also registered trademarks that day for The Galactic Circle and Circle of Resistance. At the time, a number of fansites speculated that these trademarks were for something Star Wars-related, given the words “Galactic” and “Resistance.” However, IGN wasn’t able to find any registrations for domain names that mirrored those naming schemes, which indicates Lucasfilm thinks it may need to sit on The Great Circle naming specifically very soon. Unless there’s more Star Wars coming down the pipeline in the next week or two, Indiana Jones would be the logical place for that need to arise.
Not for nothing, too, Bethesda posted a teasing gif earlier today that does feature a circle. Whether or not this is The Great Circle remains to be seen – it wouldn’t be the first time one of the most common basic shapes featured prominently in Indiana Jones stories, though the timing is certainly interesting.
Still, even with all this evidence, it’s entirely possible this trademark is entirely unrelated to the game being shown off at the Developer Direct next week. Trademarks and domain names can often be good indicators of what’s to come, but not everything that companies squat on ends up becoming a full-fledged game. We’ll just have to wait for the showcase next week to see, though IGN did reach out to Xbox for confirmation or denial on this, just in case.
Indiana Jones and the…well, whatever it is, was first revealed way back in January of 2021 via a tweet from Bethesda. The game has an original story, and is being produced by Todd Howard in collaboration with Lucasfilm. At the time, we noted that Vatican City seems to feature in it, as the tease included a plane ticket to Rome dated for October 1937, and a map with the Sistine Chapel on it. We’ve since seen nothing else about the game, but we did learn that it will feature a “unique” mash-up of different genres and that, while it was originally conceived for a PS5 release, it will ultimately be an Xbox console exclusive thanks to Xbox’s acquisition of Zenimax.
Expect more at the Developer Direct next week on January 18, 2023, at 12:00pm PT.
Rebekah Valentine is a senior reporter for IGN. Got a story tip? Send it to rvalentine@ign.com.
Thurs, 18 Jan 
9pm GMT
