Microsoft to bring Xbox mobile store, challenging Google & Apple

SAN FRANCISCO: Microsoft is working on an Xbox mobile store to compete with Play Store and App Store.

The UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is currently looking into Microsoft's 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 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.