Xbox Mobile Store to ‘Circumvent’ Google Play, App Store

Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed that the Xbox Mobile Store will launch in 2024, bringing Microsoft’s mobile gaming offerings outside of the Google Play Store and App Store ecosystems.

Speaking during an interview at the Bloomberg Tech Summit, Bond revealed that the mobile gaming store will launch in July. “In July, we are going to be launching our mobile store experience,” Bond says, referring to the Xbox Mobile Gaming Store. “We are going to start actually by bringing our own first party portfolio to that.”

As reference, these first party games include the likes of Activision’s Call of Duty franchise, King’s Candy Crush Saga, and Blizzard’s Diablo Immortal, just to name a few. It’s worth noting that Microsoft owns a wide range of IPs, which include but is not limited to The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Fable, Gears of War, Forza, Minecraft, and Crash Bandicoot.

Bond reveals that the objective is to give Microsoft a “true cross-platform gaming-centric mobile experience,” and said that Microsoft will also be sharing this to its partners.

This store, while being mobile-centric, is also meant to bridge the experiences across multiple platforms. Bond says that the store will be Web-based at the start, which will make the store accessible across different platforms and devices. This also makes the store and its contents independent from the rules and policies of “closed ecosystem stores,” alluding to Google Play Store and the App Store.

Being web-based has the disadvantage as well of being somewhat clunky. Bond hints that the store will eventually “extend” outside of the web, which might potentially mean there’s going to be an Xbox Mobile Gaming Store App. Meanwhile, there’s no news on how the Xbox Game Pass could possibly figure into this store.

A follow-up statement to The Verge clarified Microsoft’s plans, stating:

“This year we will debut our first mobile offering where mobile players can find deals on their favorite in-game items and discover new games, starting on the web so players can access it anywhere. This web-based store is the first step in our journey to building a trusted app store with its roots in gaming.”

An Independent Xbox Mobile Gaming Store

Why is this important? Fans would remember the previous legal scuffle between Apple and Epic Games, originating from Epic’s circumventing of the App Store’s payment fees by allowing Fortnite players to purchase V Bucks directly in-game and without going through the App Store checkout counter.

This move by Microsoft will theoretically make it possible for players to download apps and games from the Xbox Mobile Gaming Store directly to their smartphones, and do transactions in-games without being subjected to the commissions earned by both Google and Apple in their respective storefronts for every sale made through their platforms.

Google earns its commissions through a 15%-cut from subscriptions, while the App Store adds a 30% surcharge to transactions on its platform.

While this is definitely beneficial to Microsoft, as this means that all profits from game sales and microtransactions could potentially go straight to them, this is also good for consumers as they will avoid paying the so-called “mobile games tax” that developers and publishers add to microtransaction prices to pay for these commissions.

However, it’s not entirely impossible for Microsoft to impose similar commissions its own platform, granted that it eventually adds third-party apps and games. Neither Microsoft nor Xbox has made a comment regarding to store-specific fees as of the moment. The current focus of Xbox’s messaging has been on the cross-platform capabilities of its soon-to-launch store.