Microsoft’s new Xbox mobile games store launches in July

Microsoft has been talking about plans for an Xbox mobile game store for a few years now, and the company now plans to launch it in July. Speaking at the Bloomberg Technology Summit today, Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed the launch date and how Microsoft will avoid Apple’s strict App Store rules.

“We will start by bringing our own primary portfolio to [the Xbox mobile store]then you will see games like candy Crush appear in this experience, games like Minecraft,” says Bond. “Let’s start on the web, and we’re doing this because it really allows us to make it an accessible experience on every device, in every country, no matter what, and regardless of closed ecosystem store policies.”

The store will focus on original mobile games from various Microsoft studios, including blockbusters like Call of Duty: Mobile It is candy Crush Saga. Bond says the company will also extend this to partners at some point in the future.

While games will naturally be part of the store, it appears that core parts of the Xbox experience will also be available. Bond argues that there is no gaming platform and store experience that is “truly cross-device worth – where who you are, your library, your identity, your rewards travel with you rather than being locked into a single ecosystem.” So Microsoft is trying to build on that with its Xbox mobile store.

Microsoft also built this store in anticipation of companies like Apple and Google being forced to open their mobile app stores, but it’s clear the software giant isn’t willing to wait for the Digital Markets Act to spread in Europe or in any potential action in the US.

It will be a challenge to implement a web-only mobile store, and it’s not immediately clear how Microsoft will position this as an alternative to those mobile games already on rival app stores. Bond says Microsoft will “extend” beyond the web, suggesting it could eventually launch a true rival to Google and Apple’s mobile app stores at some point soon.

Microsoft first hinted at a “next-generation store” in early 2022, just a month after the company announced its acquisition of Activision Blizzard. “We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from us and our third-party partners on any screen someone wants to play on,” Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said in a statement. interview with the Financial Times last year. “Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices, but we want to build a world that we believe will come where these devices will be open.”