Mibu no ookami
Demoted Member® Pro™
Spider-Man himself isn't an inherent flex either.
It is true that Spider-Man and Marvel IP generally have a higher ceiling for gaming than Indiana Jones ever will. It's also true that IP has a very low floor in gaming, no matter what it is. After years of bad licensing conceived as money grabs, people are conditioned to stay as far away from IP games if they're anything less than great. The branding is actually much more likely to hurt the game than help it. As recently proven with The Avengers apocalyptic failure, despite being developed by a studio that had recently released 2 blockbuster Tomb Raider title; and with Guardians of The Galaxy. A decent game that wasn't good enough to supercede its poor marketing and Avengers' bad leftover taste.
Ironically, Insomniac's Spider-Man proves why true blue exclusives are good for the industry. It's not a juggernaut because of the brand. Many Spider-Man games before it outright flopped, despite some of them being decent games. The money, time, tools and guidance Sony provided to Insomniac, who wouldn't have had access to the IP without PlayStation going to them after being approached by Marvel, summed up to a high quality game that otherwise wouldn't have existed in the same form.
And remember: Marvel didn't just go to Sony about licensing their IP. They also went to Microsoft, who turned them down. Also note that the only reason Xbox now has Indiana Jones coming its way exclusively is because Microsoft gobbled up Bethesda.
Appreciate your response, but what matters more the ceiling or the floor? I'd hazard that Indiana Jones' ceiling is closer to Spider-Man's floor than it is Spider-Man's ceiling.
I agree with you that exclusives are good for the industry though.
Did Bethesda already have a deal for Indiana Jones? What's the history behind that?