Microsoft will launch its own mobile game store in July, the company announced at the Bloomberg Technology Summit on Thursday.
Xbox president Sarah Bond shared that the company plans to bring its first-party portfolio, which includes titles like Candy Crush and Minecraft, to the mobile store at launch. Microsoft then plans to open up the mobile store to other publishers.
“We’re going to start on the web,” Bond said. “And we’re doing that because that really allows us to have it be an experience that’s accessible across all devices, all countries, no matter what, independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores, and then we’re going to extend from there.”
By launching the store on the web, as opposed to an app, Microsoft would present an alternative to Apple and Google, which charge a 30% fee on sales.
The official announcement comes as Microsoft has been talking about launching an Xbox mobile gaming store for quite some time now. Last December, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the company was in discussions with partners about launching an Xbox mobile store, and noted that it would arrive sooner than later.
Microsoft first hinted at a mobile store back in 2022 when it announced a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. Microsoft had said in filings that one of the major reasons it wanted to acquire Activision Blizzard was to help build out its mobile gaming presence. In October 2022, Microsoft’s filings with the CMA revealed that it planned to create a new “Xbox Mobile Platform” that includes mobile games by Activision and King.
While the EU’s Digital Marketing Act (DMA) forces Apple and Google to open up their mobile app stores, Microsoft is looking to provide an alternative to the two in the United States and beyond the EU.
