Phil Spencer: Xbox Mobile Gaming Store Could Launch in 2024 - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 20 March 2023 / 2,447 Views
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer speaking with the Financial Times stated that Microsoft is preparing to launch an Xbox mobile gaming store on iOS and Android and this could be as soon as next year if its Activision Blizzard acquisition is approved.
Spencer mentioned the Digital Markets Act, which would force Apple and Google to access their apps without the need of the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store.
"The Digital Markets Act that’s coming – those are the kinds of things that we are planning for," said Spencer. "I think it’s a huge opportunity."
The Digital Markets Act was signed into law by the European Parliament last September and will becomes applicable on May 2, 2023. The law will identify gatekeepers and they will have to start complying with the act by March 6, 2024. If the legislation isn't appealed or the deadline delayed Microsoft could add the Xbox Games Store to mobile devices on March 6, 2024.
We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play," said Spencer. "Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up."
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012 and taking over the hardware estimates in 2017. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel. You can contact the author on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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If this does happen, MS will likely offer a larger cut to game studios and app makers to incentivize releasing content for their store. Offer a Mobile Game Pass like Google and Apple have now.
This is the main reason they want ABK.
Good, this is needed to compete with the Android and Apple monopolies in that market.
Thats why they need King to help compete
King doesn't control the market places.
Its popular content that will boost them
Best of luck to MS, it will be hard to go against the other stores.
Yes. Google and Apple, even after their legal monopolies are ended, will still have the huge advantages of being the default app store on devices, having a more than decade. Long head start, and having the names that go along with a devices and or operating systems that people are familiar with "I have an Apple phone, so I'll use the Apple store." Or "I have a Google Android phone, so I'll use the Google Play store.
On emulator I have the amazon store because of google playstore not working right for this specific game, but yes I think it will be harder to get traction than the windows phone.
Thumbs over the screen... Whose idea was this and have they been fired yet?
I couldn't care less about mobile gaming in any way, shape, or form lol. Diablo Immortal can, ironically, rot in hell xD
But I am curious as to how would such a store be implemented, and what would happen with ActiBlizz mobile games that are currently on the App/Play Store IF the deal gets approved?
They want to launch their own store and break up the applegoogle play store monopoly. So I assume they would remove those games and make the Xbox store only.
That would be pretty insane! Not only is CoD Mobile currently out, but CoD Warzone is expected to launch on mobile in a couple of months. Throw in King with Candy Crush, Bethesda with Fallout Shelter, Elder Scrolls: Blades, the Mighty Doom game that releases tomorrow, Blizzard's mobile games with Hearthstone that's still going strong, and there's even that Warcraft mobile game, and also the Age of Empires mobile game, and suddenly Xbox has a pretty strong presence on mobile.
Yep all hinges on the acquisition though. If it doesn't go through they wont be launching a store.
Candy Crush is many times bigger than all of those other games combined. It really all comes down to Candy Crush.
When they use the excuse of most money for CoD being made on PS as the excuse to remove concerns from CMA of they blocking assess if they remove King games from apple and/or google stores that would be funny to see.
I imagine they'd want to have CoD mobile etc exclusive to their store. Otherwise there's no point going to all the effort of making one. They don't want to pay the 30% fee to Google/Apple. Though maybe existing titles will stay and they'll just put the new Warzone Mobile on it exclusively.
If for some reason they didn't make their titles exclusive then who would bother? They'd just keep using Google Play.
I can see them trying to push their store with CoD, Candy Crush and Fortnite. As Fortnite isn't on the Google Play Store a deal with epic could give a strong push to their new store.
They don't need to make any titles exclusive, but just offer advantages to those who use their store, for example, earn points with Microsoft Rewards.
I use a lot of Google Rewards and Microsoft Rewards points to get good discounts, but Microsoft gives more points.
Games that cost money could cost 30% less in their store, maybe? Or are there rules in the walled gardens against that?
I'm pretty sure that could be considered price discrimination.
There's usually no rule against charging different prices on different stores. Though sometimes a store's terms of service prohibit it.
I do believe that in Brazil that would be considered a problem.
In Canada, price-fixing and other forms of price collusion are illegal as the law states that stores MUST allow competitive pricing.
Why would it be a problem in Brazil if a product were offered in two different stores for two different prices?!
When the MSRP is discriminatory.
In Brazil each store may sell for different price (like PS games for example being MSRP 300 on digital and stores having that MSRP, but yes you'll find stores having different prices - usually below MSRP). Still MS retailing it's own products for a price that other stores can't match would likely get an anti-trust concern on it.
But this isn't that, is it? This is Microsoft choosing to sell its product in one store at one price and another store at another price. In most countries, that would be allowed I believe. Same as how games might be a different price in the Windows Store, on Steam, on the Epic Store, and in GoG.
Probably an issue if let's say for one store to sell the game at 40 they charge 10 and for the other they charge 30 so the store need to price 60. But yes it is possible that no one would really complain unless of course MS makes it really big (like Epic gone against the Apple and Android stores).
But even if someone complained, I don't think there's any legal recourse. Microsoft is setting the price in every case.
Microsoft and Bethesda games still release on Steam alongside the Xbox store so presumably their mobile games would also release simultaneously on the App and Play stores.
