Microsoft to Launch Online Mobile Game Store for iOS in July

Microsoft plans to launch an online store for mobile games in July, as an alternative to Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store.

The web-based store will first debut with Microsoft's own games, but will be opened to other publishers in the future.

Xbox President Sarah Bond announced the store at the Bloomberg Technology Summit yesterday.


Microsoft saw an opportunity to create a store that "goes truly across devices — where who you are, your library, your identity, your rewards travel with you versus being locked to a single ecosystem," Bond said. The company's intention is to facilitate gaming across consoles, computers and mobile devices. Microsoft's blockbuster cross-platform game Minecraft may be an early addition to the web store, Bond said.

Additionally, Bond explained that the decision to make the store web-based, rather than an app, was so it's "accessible across all devices, all countries, no matter what, independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores."

It's likely that this new store will only be available to iOS users in the EU. The European Union's Digital Markets Act recently came into force, requiring that Apple to allow third party app stores. Unfortunately, Apple has decided to limit compliance to just the EU; however, antitrust lawsuits and regulation could force changes in America as well.

Last month, AltStore PAL was launched as first alternative app store. Currently, it only offers two apps: the all-in-one Nintendo emulator 'Delta,' and 'Clip,' a clipboard manager that can run in the background. Once the store is running smoothly, the doors will be opened to third-party apps.


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