Several years ago, representatives of Microsoft announced their desire to create their own digital store for mobile devices in order to sell games from and beyond. And, apparently, the market giant is at the finish line – today, May 10, Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, during a speech at the Bloomberg technology summit, announced that Microsoft is going to launch its content store for smartphones in July of this year. And, most interestingly, she noted that Microsoft plans to bypass Apple’s strict App Store rules.
“We plan to start by adding our own first-person video games to the Xbox mobile store. So you’ll see projects like Candy Crush and Minecraft there. It’s also worth noting that we are planning to launch the store as a web version to begin with – we are doing this to ensure that it is available on absolutely all devices and in all countries of the world, regardless of the policy of closed ecosystems,” said Sarah Bond.
The interview also mentioned the Call of Duty: Mobile franchise and Candy Crush Saga, which will also appear in the new store. But in the future, the company plans to open access to third-party partners – individual publishers and developers will be able to launch their video games through the Xbox mobile store. However, it is worth noting that at the moment, Sarah Bond does not say any details about the conditions or percentage that will be charged to developers. However, she noted that at the moment there is no gaming platform or store that would truly work on all devices. Microsoft plans to create such a platform – at least this is what the head of the division promises.
However, there are certain questions about the new Microsoft store. For example, it is not entirely clear how the company will distribute games that are already available in other digital stores. The company can remove them from sale on Google Play and the App Store, making them exclusive to its Xbox mobile store, but this will certainly lead to a drop in sales and profits. Sarah Bond also stated that Microsoft plans to expand beyond the web version of the store in the future, so there will likely be a separate app for downloading Xbox video games.
