Microsoft appears to be ramping up its efforts in mobile gaming, as it revealed plans to launch the Xbox Mobile Game Store in July.
While we already know that the Xbox Mobile Game Store has been in the works for some time, this new timeline for a July release comes from a recent interview with Xbox head Sarah Bond at the Bloomberg Tech Summit.
Sarah Bond’s announcement about the Xbox mobile game store
Bond went on to express his desire to bring Microsoft’s “first-party portfolio” to the store, including “games like Candy Crush” and “games like Minecraft” as well as third-party titles from partners.
Sarah Bond, @Microsoft’s Xbox president, announced at #BloombergTech that the company will launch its own mobile game store in July, creating an alternative to Apple and Google’s app stores pic.twitter.com/hj6eLtsGfl
— Bloomberg Live (@BloombergLive) May 9, 2024
It seems clear that the Xbox Mobile Games Store will be part of the broader Xbox ecosystem, with Bond describing it as a “true mobile experience centered around cross-platform gaming.” Presumably, this means some form of integration with existing Xbox game libraries and compatibility with popular features like Microsoft Rewards and Xbox Achievements.
Interestingly, the store will first be made available as a web app instead of a traditional app. “We’ll start on the web,” Bond explained. “We do this because it really allows us to have an experience that is accessible across all devices, all countries, regardless of that and independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores.”
This looks quite similar to the existing Xbox Cloud Gaming service, which can be accessed through mobile web browsers. Although the goal is clearly to compete with the Google Play Store for Android and the App Store for iOS, it’s hard to imagine the Xbox Game Store for mobile being a huge success without a dedicated presence on the home screen.
However, with recent European Union (EU) regulations requiring Apple to allow third-party iOS app stores for the first time in the region, it seems very plausible that we will see one version in the future. Perhaps the appeal of big-name properties like Candy Crush and Minecraft will be enough to convince a number of fans to make the jump in the meantime.
What’s the difference between the Microsoft Store and Xbox Game Pass Mobile App
Xbox Game Pass Mobile App: This app lets you manage your Xbox Game Pass subscription, browse the game library, and remotely download games to your Xbox console. It doesn’t directly sell games itself, but allows access to titles included with the subscription service.
Microsoft Store: You can access the Microsoft Store through a web browser on your mobile device. The store offers various digital products, including PC games but not directly Xbox titles. There might be some overlap with mobile games like Candy Crush being available on both Xbox and PC platforms.
So, while you can’t directly purchase Xbox games through a dedicated mobile app, the Xbox Game Pass mobile app and Microsoft Store offer ways to interact with Xbox gaming on mobile devices.