Microsoft launches its mobile games store in July to rival Apple and Google

We previously learned that Microsoft was planning to launch a mobile games store at some point this year, and now the company has shed even more light on when that storefront might launch.

Bloomberg reports today that Xbox President Sarah Bond said at the Bloomberg Technology Summit that Microsoft’s mobile games store is expected to debut in July. The plan, Bond said, is to launch Microsoft’s own games like Candy Crush Saga before eventually opening the online store to other publishers. Bond hinted that Minecraft could be one of the first additions to the showcase.

Bond also said the store would debut on the web, rather than an app, so it would be more accessible across different devices and countries.

Microsoft’s mobile gaming storefront will present an alternative to Apple and Google, which currently dominate the app store environment. As Bloomberg notes, Apple and Google “charge fees of around 30% on sales.”

Xbox boss Phil Spencer last year reaffirmed Microsoft’s commitment to opening a mobile games storefront, especially as the EU’s Digital Markets Act came into force last March. This set of European regulations aims to make the digital market landscape “fairer” and gives technology companies the opportunity to create their own online stores outside of the Apple and Google ecosystem.

“We want to be able to offer Xbox and content from us and our third-party partners on any screen that someone would want to play on,” Spencer said in an interview with the Financial Times. last year. “Today we can’t do that on mobile devices, but we want to build a world that we think will come where those devices are open.”

Microsoft’s mobile gaming story will undoubtedly build on content from its acquisition of Activision Blizzard, including popular titles like Candy Crush Saga and the aforementioned Call of Duty: Mobile. Microsoft, however, did not reveal any further details.

Alex Stedman is a senior news editor at IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she’s not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.