- Xbox is starting up its own mobile game store, set to start rolling out in July
- Beginning with a web store, the tech megacorp wants to make it available worldwide
- Games like Minecraft and Candy Crush will be key flagship titles to join
Xbox are officially coming to mobile with their own game store, it has been announced. Launching in July, Xbox President Sarah Bond said, during an appearance at the business conference Bloomberg Live, that the company would start by focusing on bringing their first-party portfolio to the storefront, with games like Candy Crush and Minecraft, before “extending that capability to partners.”
The Xbox Mobile Game Store (our name, not theirs) is set to first come to the web with the intention of making it accessible across as many devices and regions as possible “independent of the policy of closed ecosystem stores.” This could likely mean we’ll see access on iOS devices since recent changes in accessing their ecosystem open up the legal possibility of getting these games (and discounts or other incentives) on mobile without dealing directly through Apple or other device manufacturers.
Xbox on mobile: This is going to hurt
Suffice it to say, Microsoft and Xbox have been raked over the coals this week. Whether that’s closing down Tango Gameworks, the studio behind critically acclaimed Hi-Fi Rush, or Alpha Dog Games, who developed the surprisingly fun, top-down Doom mobile spinoff Mighty Doom. While we’re optimistic about the future of Xbox coming to mobile we can’t help but wonder just how dedicated they are, and it’s not exactly pushing the boat out if it’s fronted by Candy Crush and Minecraft, two of Microsoft’s cornerstone franchises.
We’re also not sure exactly what this storefront will do to single itself out. Could we see titles that would otherwise be on Game Pass become natively playable? Big discounts to draw in players? Right now it’s early doors, but with July only a couple of months away we hope they’ve got something big in mind to draw attention away from a month mainly dominated by news of their layoffs.
Still, if you want to see what’s already big on mobile, take a glance at our regular feature of the top 5 new mobile games to try this week.
