Xbox’s Big New Feature Is Ready But Can’t Legally Launch Yet
In October, Microsoft announced that Xbox games would soon be sold in a new place–directly from the Xbox app on Android. However, a recent court ruling has delayed those plans.
Xbox president Sarah Bond said a “temporary administrative stay” was recently granted by a US judge, and as such, Microsoft is unable to release this new Xbox feature–though it is ready to go. “Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision,” Bond said.
This all stems back to a decision in the Epic v. Google case earlier in 2024 where a judge ruled that Google is required to allow rival third-party app stores to exist within Google Play. Epic’s Tim Sweeney spearheaded the initiative in his ongoing battle against Google and its business practices.
Google said at the time that it planned to appeal, and the company succeeded in convincing a judge to at least delay the decision. It remains to be seen when the stay could be lifted.
Epic, which created the massively popular Fortnite, convinced the court that Google made it very difficult for any rival store within Google Play to successfully compete in the market. The benefit to Microsoft is that it can sell games directly to consumers via its own store inside the Xbox app, and that also means Microsoft wouldn’t need to pay Google a fee.
Beyond selling games within the Xbox app for Android, Microsoft is aiming to launch its own entire mobile game store at some point in the future. Microsoft is no longer trying to sell everyone an Xbox console but is instead positioning the Xbox as the catch-all term for any device that has Game Pass.
Microsoft is pushing Xbox Game Pass to create more subscribers that in turn provide Microsoft with a regular and recurring revenue stream. And Microsoft is all about making money. After Xbox’s recent 2,500 layoffs, Spencer defended the cuts, saying they were necessary due to capitalism.
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