Microsoft and Google are once again at war, and this time the fight could sway the future of Xbox. In a new legal battle, Microsoft has revealed that it built a new Xbox game store for Android but has been unable to launch it due to a court ruling that temporarily blocked changes to Google's Play Store.
The key issue is Google's requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing, which takes a 30% cut of digital purchases. Microsoft wants to sell games directly in its Xbox app and allow customers to immediately stream those games to their phones and tablets. But Google's policies make this uneconomical for Microsoft, as the company would have to sacrifice 30% of Xbox game sales on Android.
Microsoft argues that Google's fees are "exorbitantly expensive" and that it would take years to rewrite the code of popular Xbox games to use Google's payment system. The company believes it should be able to easily link out to a website to let people stream the games they just purchased, without having to give Google a cut.
This legal battle is a crucial part of Microsoft's broader "Xbox everywhere" strategy. The company has been working to make phones, laptops, tablets, and handheld gaming PCs feel like extensions of the Xbox console experience. A successful Xbox mobile store could help Microsoft reach 2 billion more gamers, as the company strongly believed back in 2018.
However, Microsoft's vision has been repeatedly delayed and complicated by the app store policies of Google and Apple. The outcome of this court case could sway the entire direction of Xbox's mobile efforts. If Microsoft is unable to bypass Google's 30% cut, it may have to significantly scale back its ambitions or find other workarounds.
Beyond the Xbox fight, Microsoft is also facing a new antitrust investigation by the Federal Trade Commission, the fifth big tech company to come under such scrutiny in recent years. The FTC is looking into Microsoft's software licensing business, cybersecurity services, and AI offerings.
It's a challenging time for Microsoft as it navigates these legal battles and regulatory probes. The company's Xbox vision hangs in the balance, and the tech giant will need to play its cards carefully to secure the future of its gaming platform across multiple devices.
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