Microsoft Mobile Game Store Plan 2023?
Do you are aware of the Microsoft Mobile Game store Plan 2023? Microsoft has recently announced its plans to launch a new app store for mobile games on iPhones and Android smartphones. The store could be launched as early as next year if Microsoft’s $75bn acquisition of Activision Blizzard is cleared by regulators.
The head of its Xbox business, Phil Spencer, said the move is aimed at offering Xbox and content from both Microsoft and its third-party partners across any screen where someone would want to play. However, this is currently not possible on mobile devices, but Microsoft wants to build towards a future where those devices are opened up.
This move comes at a time when new rules are expected to come into force from March 2024 under the EU’s Digital Markets Act. These new rules will require Apple and Google to open up their mobile platforms to app stores owned and operated by other companies.
Microsoft’s new mobile games app store could provide strong competition to Apple and Google’s app stores, which some antitrust authorities have called a “duopoly” over the distribution of games and other apps.
According to Spencer, Microsoft’s lack of mobile games was an “obvious hole in our capability” that it needed Activision Blizzard to fill. The hit titles such as Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal, and Candy Crush Saga, as well as others in development, would be critically important in attracting players away from Apple and Google’s marketplaces to an Xbox mobile store.
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Despite facing opposition from regulators in the US, Europe, and the UK, who have raised concerns about the potential impact on competition from the owner of the Xbox console buying the developer of Call of Duty, Spencer believes the deal could boost competition in what he called the “largest platform people play on” – smartphones.
The DMA is expected to designate Apple and Google as “gatekeepers”, requiring them to change the rules governing how apps are distributed on iPhones and Android devices. However, the big tech companies could appeal against the designation, delaying enforcement beyond next March’s deadline.
Microsoft has already adapted its Xbox and Game Pass apps to sell games and subscriptions on mobile devices. While it is hard to predict when Microsoft will be able to launch its own store, Spencer said it would be “pretty trivial” for the company to do so.
Microsoft Mobile Game Store Plan 2023 could provide a significant opportunity for Microsoft, as it plans to offer Xbox and content from both Microsoft and its third-party partners across any screen where someone would want to play. Microsoft’s new mobile games app store could revolutionize the industry and shake up the current dominance of Apple and Google’s app stores.
