Microsoft announced Thursday at the Bloomberg Technology Summit that it will open its own mobile game store in July.
Xbox president Sarah Bond revealed 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 later plans to open up its mobile store to other publishers.
“We start with the web,” Bond said. “And we do that because it allows us to deliver an experience that is not dependent on closed ecosystem store policies and is accessible on any device, in any country, no matter what. And we're going to expand from there.”
By launching a store on the web rather than in an app, Microsoft offers an alternative to Apple and Google, which charge a 30% commission on sales.
This official announcement comes as Microsoft has been talking about launching an Xbox mobile game store for quite some time. Last December, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer said the company was in talks with partners about launching an Xbox mobile store, and said it would happen sooner rather than later.
Microsoft first hinted at the existence of a mobile store in 2022 when it announced a deal to acquire Activision Blizzard. Microsoft said in a supplementary document that one of the main reasons it wanted to acquire Activision Blizzard was to increase its presence in mobile gaming. In October 2022, Microsoft filed a CMA filing revealing that it plans to create a new “Xbox Mobile Platform” that will include mobile games from Activision and King.
Apple and Google are required by the EU's Digital Marketing Act (DMA) to open mobile app stores, but Microsoft is trying to offer an alternative service outside the US and EU.