Microsoft is planting its flag firmly in the sand of the mobile market this year with the launch of the Xbox mobile gaming store. Xbox President Sarah Bond announced the upcoming service during a talk at the Bloomberg Technology Summit earlier this week.
Just days after closing one of its few mobile-first game studios, Xbox has announced plans to launch its own “mobile store experience”. Sarah Bond’s interview at the Bloomberg Tech event revealed that Microsoft’s first-party portfolio will hit the platform first, including games like Minecraft and Candy Crush, following the company’s acquisition of King. She says that Microsoft and Xbox’s partners will join shortly afterward.
Xbox’s mobile gaming store is launching in July and unlike other storefronts like the App Store or Google Play, it will be entirely web-based. According to Bond, this is so the platform can remain “independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores”, allowing more freedom for developers and publishers, as well as customers around the world. She told The Verge, “This web-based store is the first step in our journey to building a trusted app store with its roots in gaming.”
Bond dodged several questions regarding the recent closure of Bethesda studios like Tango Gameworks and Alpha Dog Games, instead emphasizing that every decision that Xbox makes is motivated by its “commitment to make sure that the business is healthy for the long term.”
That’s everything we know so far about Xbox’s mobile gaming store. Get to grips with some of the titles hitting the platform by checking out our list of games like Candy Crush or our Call of Duty: Mobile download guide.