Xbox boss Phil Spencer has reaffirmed Microsoft’s decision to open an Xbox mobile app store in time for the EU’s Digital Markets Act coming into place in March 2024. This act requires Apple and Google to allow third-party app storefronts on their mobile platforms.
“We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play,” explained Spencer in an interview with the Financial Times.
“Today, we can’t do that on mobile devices but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up.”
He continued: “The Digital Markets Act that’s coming, those are the kinds of things that we are planning for. I think it’s a huge opportunity.”
Microsoft presented documents to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority last year that made clear its intentions to create an Xbox mobile store app.
Alongside signing deals with other companies like Nintendo, as well as cloud streaming services such as GeForce and Ubitus, Microsoft is hoping that its initiatives to provide Activision Blizzard content to as many platforms as possible will ease fears of anti-competitiveness from regulators regarding the merger.
Activision Blizzard has plenty of mobile games, such as Candy Crush Saga and Diablo: Immortal, which accounted for more than half its overall revenue for the first half of 2022.
George Yang is a freelance writer for IGN. He’s been writing about the industry since 2019 and has worked with other publications such as Insider, Kotaku, NPR, and Variety.
When not writing about video games, George is playing video games. What a surprise! You can follow him on Twitter @Yinyangfooey
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