Credit: Unsplash
Microsoft wants a piece of sector dominated by Apple and Google.
While it’s been a bit late to the party, Microsoft has been gradually seeking out ways to match and potentially exceed its fellow tech giants Apple and Google. One of its primary targets has been the mobile sector, with cloud-based gaming on mobile devices being their first weapon. Following that, Microsoft is looking to establish a more permanent stake in the mobile scene.
Microsoft announced recently that it intends to create its own mobile app and game store to rival the Apple App Store and Google Play Store used on iPhone and Android devices, respectively. This new store would feature Xbox branding, and allow users to link their games on their phone to their PC or Xbox console.
“Xbox will seek to scale the Xbox Store to mobile, attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform,” Microsoft said in a filing with UK’s Competition and Markets Authority. “Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behavior. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new.”
Microsoft is looking to create its Xbox Game Store, similar to Big Tech's app stores now. https://t.co/fM8jtyifuM
— Tech Times (@TechTimes_News) October 20, 2022
The announcement of this new storefront and Microsoft’s filing with the CMA is part of the latter’s ongoing inquiry into Microsoft’s potential acquisition of video game publisher Activision Blizzard. The CMA has expressed concerns that such a massive acquisition would be anticompetitive, but Microsoft has assured that competition will be alive and well, will this new storefront as a linchpin.
