The chief of Microsoft’s Xbox division has stated that the company plans to introduce a fresh app store for mobile games on iPhones and Android devices as early as next year, provided that their $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard is approved by regulators.
Tim Bradshaw for Financial Times:
New rules requiring Apple and Google to open up their mobile platforms to app stores owned and operated by other companies are expected to come into force from March 2024 under the EU’s Digital Markets Act.
“We want to be in a position to offer Xbox and content from both us and our third-party partners across any screen where somebody would want to play,” said Phil Spencer, chief executive of Microsoft Gaming, in an interview ahead of this week’s annual Game Developers Conference in San Francisco.
“The Digital Markets Act that’s coming — those are the kinds of things that we are planning for,” he said. “I think it’s a huge opportunity.”
Under the DMA, the EU is expected to designate Apple and Google as “gatekeepers”, requiring them to change the rules that govern how apps are distributed on iPhones and Android devices. However, the Big Tech companies could appeal the designation, delaying enforcement beyond next March’s deadline.
MacDailyNews Take: Hurry up and wait.
Please help support MacDailyNews. Click or tap here to support our independent tech blog. Thank you!
Shop The Apple Store at Amazon.
But Apple is far worse than MS ever was. Why exactly does MS need Apple to sell software they own to customers that own their own devices.