Xbox's mobile game store to initially allow only in-game purchases

For the last few years, there have been rumours that Microsoft will unveil a dedicated Xbox game store for mobile, a platform it has yet to tap into. Earlier this month, Sarah Bond, President of Xbox, confirmed these reports and shared that the mobile game store will be launched in July’24.

In an interview with Bloomberg, Sarah said,

In July, we are going to be launching our mobile store experience. We’re going to start actually by bringing our own first-party portfolio to that, so you’re going to see games like Candy Crush show up in that experience, games like Minecraft. And then we are going to extend that capability to partners, so that they can also take advantage of it and have a true closs-platform, gaming-centric mobile experience. We’re going to start on the web, and we’re doing that because that really allows us to have it be an experience that’s accessible across all devices, all countries, no matter what and independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores. And then we’re going to extend from there.

Now, reports coming in suggest that the Xbox game store for mobile will only support in-game transactions, like cosmetics and currency, and not actual game purchases, at least initially.

Stephen Totilo, who extensively covers video games, shared the developments in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Besides, for now, the Xbox game store will be available as a website and not a downloadable app. Using a website, Microsoft can easily bypass restrictions enforced by Apple and Google on apps hosted in their dedicated stores. Additonally, this will help Xbox offer higher discounts, given it doesn’t have to pay any fees to Apple or Google.

At the end of the day, the good news is that, with Sarah Bond already confirming the introduction of first-party and third-party titles, your favourite games will be available on the Xbox mobile game store some time down the line.

Xbox has long been aiming to tap into the mobile gaming landscape, a market worth over $100 billion. And the timing couldn’t have been better, especially with the recent Activision Blizzard acquisition and the EU enforcing DMA (Digital Markets Act).

Are you excited about the Xbox mobile game store? Share with our readers in the comments section.