Microsoft is looking to create its own mobile app store, according to filings

By George Yang October 19, 2022

Microsoft may have plans to build out its own Xbox storefront on mobile platforms, according to its recent filings.

Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard is currently under investigation by the UK’s Competition and Market Authority (CMA). First spotted by The Verge, in Microsoft’s filings, the company says that it wants to expand its gaming offerings on mobile, and that includes building a mobile storefront.

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“The transaction will improve Microsoft’s ability to create a next-generation game store which operates across a range of devices, including mobile as a result of the addition of Activision Blizzard’s content. Building on Activision Blizzard’s existing communities of gamers, Xbox will seek to scale the Xbox Store to mobile, attracting gamers to a new Xbox Mobile Platform,” Microsoft says in its filings. “Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behavior. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new.”

Microsoft acknowledges that its merger with Activision Blizzard would also give the company a valuable presence in the mobile game market, as titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile and Candy Crush are very popular. Microsoft says that Activision Blizzard’s mobile games and ancillary revenue accounted for more than half of the company’s revenues in the first half of 2022.

“Microsoft currently has no meaningful presence in mobile gaming and the Transaction will bring much-needed expertise in mobile game development, marketing, and advertising,” says Microsoft in the same filings. “Activision Blizzard will be able to contribute its learnings from developing and publishing mobile games to Xbox gaming studios.”

While U.K. regulators are still putting the Microsoft and Activision Blizzard merger under intense scrutiny, it has already been approved in Brazil. Time will tell whether other territories will either reject or approve it as well.

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