The Xbox team has been on a crusade these past few months. The company’s continued expansion into purchasing Activision Blizzard, as well as putting 10-year deals in with any company willing to take Call of Duty in, has proved how much gaming means to the crew. Now, the company has its sights set on mobile devices. While this isn’t Xbox or Microsoft’s first foray into the mobile arena, it does present a new opportunity.
Xbox Plans on Opening Digital Store on Mobile Devices
Xbox is planning on taking its games to mobile devices soon. How this is going to happen is due to an act in the EU. The Digital Markets Act in the EU plans on forcing Google and Apple to allow third-party marketplaces. This opens the door for companies like Xbox to open its own app store, allowing players to purchase games from other sources.
With this act going through, Xbox plans on bringing its games to the mobile platforms. That’s either through Xbox Game Pass, or the Cloud Program, or even by making mobile games of its own.
Phil Spencer mentions their goals in an interview with the Financial Times. He states:
“We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play.”
With Xbox planning on purchasing Activision Blizzard, it’ll also be scooping up another massive company under the Activision umbrella,: King. This company is responsible for the likes of Candy Crush Saga, a game that continues to infest itself on mobile devices around the world. It even comes with a link to the title on the Microsoft store on Windows devices. With Candy Crush under its belt, as well as other Activision games like Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty Mobile, a massive influx to Microsoft’s ever-growing funds is likely when the deal goes through.
Xbox plans on making sure that worries about console exclusivity for major titles like COD are out of the question. Bringing Activision to mobile devices and competitor’s consoles prove that the consumers are coming first from Microsoft.