Xbox Mobile Store for games may be launching soon
A new web page for the Xbox Mobile Store has appeared, indicating that it may be launching imminently.
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What you need to know
It looks like some players may be able to play Xbox mobile games fairly soon.
Aweb pagefor the Xbox Mobile Store has been spotted (thanks,@Klobrille) with a description thanking users for signing up for theXbox Insiders programand indicating that access is coming soon.
Back in May, Xbox president Sarah Bond announced that theXbox Mobile Store would be launching at some point in July 2024. As of July 29, as I’m writing this, there has been no official word on when the store will be launching, and we are clearly running out of July in just a couple of days.
At the time, Bond indicated that the store would first be launching as a web-based store, providing users an alternative to the app stores run by Apple and Google. Bond also confirmed that the store would first be launching with first-party games like Candy Crush andMinecraftfrom King and Mojang, respectively, with third-party games from external partners being added to the store at a later date.
Analysis: Huge questions and opportunity
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It’s possible we get an announcement in the next couple of days, allowing the Xbox Mobile Store to squeak in at the end of the month. It’s also possible it’s been slightly delayed and we’ll instead see something officially announced in August.
Either way, it seems safe to expectsomethingbeing announced in the coming days and weeks. It’ll be interesting to see if access rolls out to members of the Xbox Insider program first, like this page seems to indicate. If so, I’m curious how long it’ll be before it then opens up for all users. That’s going to be important in order for the store to acquire more casual users.
There are a lot of questions surrounding the Xbox Mobile Store right now, from ease of access to the starting game library to what (if any?)Xbox Game Passintegration is available.
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Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer has previously spoken at length abouthow critical mobile gaming is for Xbox, something that’s been cited as one of the biggest reasons for Microsoft acquiring Activision Blizzard King, adding mobile opportunities around franchises like Candy Crush, Call of Duty, and Diablo from across Blizzard Entertainment and King.
Xbox also has some other mobile development capacity, such as the mobile team atnow-unionized Bethesda Game Studiosthat is working onThe Elder Scrolls: Castles.
Samuel Tolbert is a freelance writer covering gaming news, previews, reviews, interviews and different aspects of the gaming industry, specifically focusing on Xbox and PC gaming on Windows Central. You can find him on Twitter@SamuelTolbert.
