Microsoft Working On Xbox Mobile Store, To Take on Google Play and Apple's App Store: Report

Microsoft might use successful mobile games Candy Crush Saga and Call of Duty: Mobile to build the Xbox store.

Microsoft may need to recruit third-party developers to build its Xbox mobile store.

San Francisco: Microsoft is working on an Xbox mobile store to compete with Google Play store and Apple's App Store. The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently looking into Microsoft's $68.7-billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, and they have discovered the company's plans to create an Xbox-branded mobile game store, reports The Verge.

To build a gaming store, the tech giant might use the successful mobile games Candy Crush Saga and Call of Duty: Mobile, which are produced by Activision and King, respectively.

According to a graph from the company, the mobile game industry represents a much larger portion of the overall gaming market at 51 per cent.

Given Apple's restrictions on third-party app stores on iOS, it is impossible to see the Microsoft store on iPhones. But it's obvious that doesn't stop it from planning an Xbox mobile app store.

If the company wants to succeed in this plan, it will need to recruit third-party developers, the report said.

By agreeing to a set of guidelines, the firm appears to be setting the framework for developers to independently manage their own app stores on its Xbox mobile platform and provide their own payment methods for handling in-game transactions. That is a feature that Apple does not provide.

In January this year, Microsoft announced it is going to buy Activision Blizzard for $68.7 billion in an all-cash transaction. This move would make Microsoft the third-largest gaming firm by revenue, behind Tencent and Sony. This acquisition is also likely to accelerate the growth in Microsoft’s gaming business across mobile, PC, console and cloud and will provide building blocks for the metaverse.

“Gaming is the most dynamic and exciting category in entertainment across all platforms today and will play a key role in the development of metaverse platforms,” Satya Nadella, Chairman and CEO, Microsoft, said in a statement at the time. “We’re investing deeply in world-class content, community and the cloud to usher in a new era of gaming that puts players and creators first and makes gaming safe, inclusive and accessible to all," he added.

(With inputs from IANS)