The marketing of mobile games and apps now seems to be under the yoke of the Apple/Google tandem. The App Store and Play Store are all the rage in the mobile gaming market, but that could change very soon! As recently reported TheVergedocuments sent to the CMA (the market regulator in the United Kingdom) shed light on the intentions of Microsoftwhich would be develop a mobile Xbox store.
A third player at the table
If this project materializes, it would completely reshuffle the cards of the mobile game market, so far monopolized by Apple and Google. it must be said that a mobile platform stamped xbox would make sense, since with the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard by Microsoft, the firm would seriously take its mark on our phones. In effect, King Division mobile titles (Candy Crush) plus games like CoD mobile account for more than half of Activision Blizzard’s revenue in 2022. This year too, Blizzard has made no secret of its appetite for mobile games, with the launch of Diablo Immortal and the announcement of Warcraft Arclight Rumble.
An already attractive store for developers
According to TheVerge, Microsoft is already in operation-seduction with mobile game developers, since the firm plans to let them freely manage their own micro-transactions. A very attractive idea, launched two years after Epic Games declared war on Apple. The creators of Fortnite then accused Apple of gorging themselves on the backs of mobile game developers, with the 30% tax on online purchases made via App Store. Microsoft had by the way been one of the first giants to openly support Epic Games in its fight against the Apple brand.
By positioning itself from the outset as a welcoming platform for game creators, the “Xbox mobile gaming store” would have a card to play in this market that was believed to be immutable.
xbox
Hundreds of Microsoft employees have reportedly been laid off across nearly every division of the company, including team members from Xbox, Azure, and Microsoft Edge, to name a few. The reason given: structural changes.