If it’s up to Microsoft, your iPhone will have a new download store starting next year. Behind the scenes, the company is working hard to develop, and launch, the Xbox App Store.
That news is official and comes from Microsoft’s Head of Gaming Phil Spencer. In an interview with the Financial Times, he explains how the company envisions a future where the European Union has its way.
Microsoft’s own Xbox App Store for your iPhone
Spencer is not talking about a regular app. During his interview with the Financial Times, the Xbox boss talks about an actual App Store as iPhone users currently know only from Apple.
Of course, such an approach would never be an option for Tim Cook’s American company, but it really has no choice starting next year. That has everything to do with The Digital Markets Act (DMA) of the European Union, which Spencer also refers to.
Game through the Xbox Game Pass (Image: Microsoft)
The DMA is new EU legislation that will take effect from 2024. It will force Apple to make its iPhone more accessible by allowing third-party download stores. Something that has never been the case since the introduction of the smartphone in 2007.
Microsoft plans to jump on top of its prey like a hawk. Phil Spencer lets it be known in the interview that Xbox will thus come with its own App Store. “A gigantic possibility,” he calls it.
Enough ammunition for a solid attack
The opportunities Microsoft sees are not unjustified. Since its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, the parent company of Xbox has enough ammunition to launch a vigorous attack.
Major titles like Call of Duty Mobile, Diablo Immortal and Candy Crush Saga are among Xbox’s arsenal. A dedicated App Store where such titles are exclusively downloadable could mean success on the iPhone.
We’re going wild! (Image: Activision)
‘Finally,’ the company must have thought. Microsoft has been trying to release an app for Xbox Cloud Gaming on the iPhone for years, but has constantly been met with backlash from Apple so it still hasn’t happened today.
That has everything to do with Apple’s policy in this area. A policy that will no longer be in place because of The Digital Markets Act. Well, and then Microsoft finally seizes its chance with an Xbox App Store.
