The monopoly of Apple and Google on the smartphone irritates more and more video game publishers. After Epic Games, it is Microsoft who would like to take a share of the mobile market with its own store.
We know that the video game giant Epic Games would like to offer its store on smartphones in front of the Play Store and the App Store. It is even one of the issues of his legal dispute with Apple which has revealed many things behind the scenes of the industry.
This time, it’s another case that is the source of revelation: the attempted takeover of Activision Blizzard King by Microsoft. Among the documents sent to the British authorities, we discover that the American giant would also like to launch a mobile store.
How Microsoft wants you to use its store
Here’s what Microsoft says to the CMA, the UK competition authority.
The deal will enhance Microsoft’s ability to create a next-generation game store that works across a range of devices, including mobile, with the addition of content from Activision Blizzard. Building on Activision Blizzard’s existing gaming communities, Xbox will look to expand the Xbox Store to mobile, bringing gamers to a new Xbox Mobile platform. Diverting consumers from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices, however, will require fundamental changes in consumer behavior. Microsoft hopes that by offering known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new.
In other words, Microsoft plans to launch an Xbox Store on smartphones to download or buy mobile games. With the takeover of Activision Blizzard King, the giant would get its hands on Candy Crush Saga, Call of Duty Mobile and Hearthstone in particular, three big successes on smartphones and tablets. We understand that by removing these games from the App Store and the Google Play Store and reserving them for its own store, Microsoft hopes to divert consumers from Apple and Google.
An Xbox Store on smartphone: to do what?
What would be the interest for a consumer to find an alternative to the App Store or the Google Play Store? Microsoft could take a lower commission and therefore offer cheaper microtransactions, this is what Epic Games tried with Fortnite. It would come as a surprise when Microsoft still imposes a high commission on the Xbox store.
The firm could offer consumers additional functions absent from Apple and Google. For example, signing in with the Xbox account to unlock achievements and integrating with Xbox Game Pass to allow subscribers to download games “for free”. Synchronizing progress in games between your PC, console and smartphone could also be made easier.
What about the firmness of Apple?
A question still arises on the side of the iPhone. If Android does authorize the development of alternative stores to the Google Play Store, even if Google does everything to prevent you from using them, this is not the case with Apple, which prohibits any alternative to the App Store.
The documents do not reveal how Microsoft intends to offer this alternative on Apple platforms. There have been experiments with an alternative App Store without jailbreak, but they were based on hacks that a company like Microsoft cannot use for a consumer product.
Microsoft does not give any details on its strategy or the timetable it wants to apply. The firm is first waiting to get the green light on the acquisition of giant Activision Blizzard King. Officially, Microsoft expects this process to be completed by summer 2023 at the latest.
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