Microsoft is Working on a Mobile Xbox Store with Partners

Microsoft head of Xbox Phil Spencer said this week that the company would launch an Xbox gaming store on mobile platforms, and that it is working with unnamed partners to make it happen as soon as next year.

“It’s an important part of our strategy and something we are actively working on today not only alone, but talking to other partners who’d also like to see more choice for how they can monetize on the phone,” he said. “I don’t think this is multiple years away, I think this is sooner than that.”

Microsoft has grown increasingly frustrated with Apple blocking its Xbox Game Pass service on iPhones and iPads, and of the control that Apple and Google both have over their respective mobile app stores. The software giant has explicitly supported Epic’s antitrust battles against both companies, and it spent $68 billion acquiring Activision Blizzard—fighting prolonged antitrust battles along the way—specifically because of that company’s strong presence on mobile.

Rumors of an Xbox mobile games store have circulated for years, and the firm revealed its plans for the Xbox Mobile Platform, which it described as a “next generation games store which operates across a range of devices, including mobile,” in a regulatory filing earlier this year. but recent moves by antitrust regulators—especially the EU’s sweeping Digital Markets Act (DMA)—may be just the opening that Microsoft needs to make it happen: Under the terms of the DMA, gatekeepers like Apple and Google are required to open up dominant platforms, and iOS and Android both meet that bar. So, these firms are arguably now required to allow third-party mobile app and game stores.

“We’ve talked about choice, and today on your mobile phones, you don’t have choice,’’ Spencer added. “To make sure that Xbox is not only relevant today but for the next 10, 20 years, we’re going to have to be strong across many screens.”