Ever since the Xbox Series S tease that we all missed in 2020, fans have been looking for more developer Easter Eggs to make sure we're not duped again. Despite Todd Howard displaying a bunch of Indiana Jones artefacts behind him during videos, it turns out he wasn't teasing the game at all, and just really likes the films.
Let's rewind a little bit to the lead up to next-gen consoles, shall we? Last year before we knew of the existence of the Xbox Series S, Xbox head Phil Spencer hid a cheeky Easter Egg behind him to accentuate just how small the upcoming console is. During at least one interview the Xbox boss had the white Series S hidden between a few books on his shelf and no one really noticed. Not a peep, until we all saw the true reveal of the S and fans realised we had already seen it coming - we just didn't know it yet.
And now a similar situation has arisen with Bethesda's Todd Howard. On January 12 it was announced that Bethesda is working with Machine Games to create an Indiana Jones game. This title will take place in late 1937 and follow the events between Raiders of the Lost Ark and the Last Crusade. We can't wait to see what adventures we'll be getting into when the game eventually does release, but coming back to the point, Todd Howard owns two major Indiana Jones artefacts that he proudly displayed behind him on an Xbox Podcast.
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Both the Golden Idol and The Ark of the Covenant are featured behind the developer when talking to Pete Hines, Phil Spencer and podcast host Larry Hyrb. You can clearly see him sat in front of the coveted items, shown off for everyone to see. Since the announcement of the Indiana Jones game, though, fans have been kicking themselves for not realising this was all a big hint they should have spotted. Except it wasn't - Howard just owns these items because he likes them.
On Twitter Pete Hines, the SVP of Global Marketing/Comms at Bethesda confirms this was an accident. "Just to be clear, this is not anyone "doing" anything. Todd is a lifelong fan of Indiana Jones. He owns a lot of cool Indiana Jones stuff. He's not displaying it for anyone's benefit or because of this announce. He's just a huge fan of Indiana Jones."
Maybe we should have known. It looks like Howard has had the Golden Idol for years, as one Reddit user points out. He has had it behind him in interviews from years and years ago - so all this does is confirm that Howard is a fan of Harrison Ford, just like us.
Featured Image Credit: Disney / Xbox Podcast (via YouTube)