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A legal battle could sway Microsoft’s mobile Xbox plans
In October, it became very clear that Microsoft and Google were at war again. After a six-year truce on legal battles ended in 2021, Google has, in recent months, been voicing its concerns about Microsoft’s cloud business. That particular dispute is at the “lobbying regulators” stage, but another disagreement between the two tech giants has slipped into the courts and the public sphere and could sway the very future of Xbox.
Microsoft revealed last week that it built a new Xbox game store for Android but has been unable to launch it. The store relies on a key court ruling that would force sweeping changes to Google’s Play Store, opening it up to competition and ending the requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing. Microsoft has been desperate for regulators to act and pave the way for its ambitious Xbox mobile efforts. But after the court ruling offered a brief moment of hope, Google won a temporary administrative stay blocking the changes from coming into effect in November.
Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets. These two features combined aren’t possible right now, unless Microsoft is willing to sacrifice 30 percent of Xbox game purchases on Android to Google.
“Due to a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts, we are currently unable to launch these features as planned,” said Xbox president Sarah Bond in a Bluesky post last week on the eve of Thanksgiving. “Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision.”
Google’s reaction was different, though. “Microsoft has always been able to offer their Android users the ability to play and purchase Xbox games directly from their app – they’ve simply chosen not to,” said Google spokesperson Dan Jackson in response to Microsoft’s public complaint.
As always, the reality between Microsoft’s and Google’s statements here is somewhere in the middle. Microsoft used to allow you to buy games in the Xbox mobile app on Android, but it removed the functionality in 2020 when it decided to add remote console streaming to the app. Google’s Play Store policies mean Microsoft would have to give up a 30 percent cut if it wanted to allow Xbox players to buy games in an Android app and then also play them.
Google “allows customers to purchase digital content using non-Google commerce systems in a native app — but only if the content is not consumed in the app, e.g.,
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www.theverge.com
Rest of the article is paywalled.
Here are the posts on bluesky from Sarah Bond
In October, it became very clear that Microsoft and Google were at war again. After a six-year truce on legal battles ended in 2021, Google has, in recent months, been voicing its concerns about Microsoft’s cloud business. That particular dispute is at the “lobbying regulators” stage, but another disagreement between the two tech giants has slipped into the courts and the public sphere and could sway the very future of Xbox.
Microsoft revealed last week that it built a new Xbox game store for Android but has been unable to launch it. The store relies on a key court ruling that would force sweeping changes to Google’s Play Store, opening it up to competition and ending the requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing. Microsoft has been desperate for regulators to act and pave the way for its ambitious Xbox mobile efforts. But after the court ruling offered a brief moment of hope, Google won a temporary administrative stay blocking the changes from coming into effect in November.
Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets. These two features combined aren’t possible right now, unless Microsoft is willing to sacrifice 30 percent of Xbox game purchases on Android to Google.
“Due to a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts, we are currently unable to launch these features as planned,” said Xbox president Sarah Bond in a Bluesky post last week on the eve of Thanksgiving. “Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision.”
Google’s reaction was different, though. “Microsoft has always been able to offer their Android users the ability to play and purchase Xbox games directly from their app – they’ve simply chosen not to,” said Google spokesperson Dan Jackson in response to Microsoft’s public complaint.
As always, the reality between Microsoft’s and Google’s statements here is somewhere in the middle. Microsoft used to allow you to buy games in the Xbox mobile app on Android, but it removed the functionality in 2020 when it decided to add remote console streaming to the app. Google’s Play Store policies mean Microsoft would have to give up a 30 percent cut if it wanted to allow Xbox players to buy games in an Android app and then also play them.
Google “allows customers to purchase digital content using non-Google commerce systems in a native app — but only if the content is not consumed in the app, e.g.,
Microsoft and Google are fighting over the future of Xbox
Microsoft wants to launch an all-new Xbox app on Android.
www.theverge.com
Rest of the article is paywalled.
Here are the posts on bluesky from Sarah Bond
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