Possibly in 2024, Microsoft will introduce an app store for mobile games.

Image Credit: MS Poweruser Within 2024, Microsoft plans to open its Xbox mobile gaming store. The software behemoth previously revealed its plans for an Xbox mobile store, and now Xbox CEO Phil Spencer claims the store is being built in anticipation of businesses like Apple and Google being compelled to make their mobile app stores public. In an interview with the Financial Times, Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer stated, "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." Today, we cannot do that on mobile devices, but we want to build towards a world that we think will be coming where those devices are opened up. Microsoft first acknowledged developing an Xbox store for mobile devices in regulatory documents submitted to the UK's Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) last year. The tech giant at the time said only that its proposed merger with Activision Blizzard would play a crucial part in the strategy but gave no specific timetable. On Monday, Spencer said that “these are the kinds of things that we are preparing for,” he said, “referring to the upcoming Digital Markets Act. "The opportunity is enormous, in my opinion.” Major platforms that the European Union deems to be "gatekeepers" must make their devices accessible to rival app stores under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). According to a Bloomberg report from last fall, Apple was already working to make iOS compliant with the law before its March 2024 deadline. Companies that the EU designates as gatekeepers will be given the opportunity to contest the designation, which could delay the implementation of the law. Additionally, there is no assurance that Microsoft's acquisition of Activision Blizzard will be completed before the new regulations apply to Apple and Google, a fact Spencer appeared to acknowledge in an interview with the Financial Times. This is due to challenges from the Federal Trade Commission and the CMA. To sell games and subscriptions via mobile devices, he claimed that Microsoft would only need to "pretty trivially" adapt its current Xbox and Game Pass apps. Image Credit: Microsoft All of this still depends on Microsoft's proposed acquisition of Activision Blizzard receiving regulatory approval, which is still a long shot. The CMA and Microsoft have recently engaged in verbal combat over "clear errors" in the regulator's financial calculations. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the European Commission are both conducting regulatory investigations into Microsoft. Read More: Google allegedly paid Activision Blizzard & Riot Games to avoid rival app store launch: Epic Games The FTC (Federal Trade Commission) filed a lawsuit to stop Microsoft's deal last year, and the case is still in the document discovery phase with an evidentiary hearing set for August 2nd. Despite reports that the EU is likely to approve Microsoft's deal, it is still under review by the FTC. Microsoft's "next-generation gaming ecosystem," which might refer to the company's plans to develop its Xbox mobile gaming store, was the subject of a recent document request from FTC attorneys.