Microsoft hasn’t given up on the idea of launching its own app stores on Android and iOS. On the contrary, this direct competitor to the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store could land as early as 2024, thanks to the new measures introduced by the DMA, the Digital Markets Act.
The domination of the Play Store on Android and the App Store on iOS soon threatened? In any case, Microsoft intends to put a blow in the anthill by launching its own “gaming” app store in 2024.
Phil Spencer, big boss of Xbox, confirmed the ambitions of the Redmond firm in an interview with our colleagues from FinancialTimes. The American company believes that this project has a good chance of succeeding, particularly with the entry into force from March 2024 in Europe of the DMAthe Digital Markets Act.
Microsoft relies on European DMA to launch its app store
Remember that this new regulation will finally open the doors to other third-party application stores on Android and iOS. A market previously controlled with an iron fist by Google with the Play Store and Apple with the App Store.
“We want to be able to bring Xbox and content from our third-party partners to any screen where someone wants to play. Today we can’t do that on mobile devices, but we want to build a world that we believe will come when those devices are open.” said Phil Spencer.
If Microsoft is indeed aiming to launch its store in 2024, it’s a safe bet that its development is already well advanced. Let us recall that the American company mentioned for the first time this application store project as soon as October 2022a few months after the record acquisition of Activision-Blizzard.
To offer a strong competitor in the video game segment, Microsoft intends to rely on its new strong licenses from the Activision-Blizzard-King portfolio as Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush Saga.
A project subject to validation of the acquisition of Activision-Blizzard
But precisely, the takeover still needs to be validated by the competition regulatory authorities of the various markets. If an agreement is likely to be reached in Europe by the European Commission, the thing is still far from being won in the United States and the United Kingdom.
In the land of Uncle Sam, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed a lawsuit to block the operation in 2022, and for now, the institution is still reviewing the redemption documents. An evidentiary hearing is scheduled for August 2, 2023.
As for our British neighbours, the CMA remains concerned that this acquisition threatens competition and innovation with the arrival of licenses as popular as Call of Duty in the bosom of Microsoft.
