Microsoft will launch its mobile game store this summer

Microsoft has confirmed that it will be opening up its web-based game store in July to host its own games to compete with Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store.

The details:

• Speaking at the Bloomberg Technology Summit, Xbox president Sarah Bond provided an update on the store after the company announced it was in talks with partners late last year. At first, the store will only offer Microsoft titles, such as King's Candy Crush and Mojang's Minecraft. "In July, we are going to be launching our mobile store experience," Bond stated. "We're going to start actually by bringing our own first-party portfolio to that."

• Once the store is live, the company intends to "extend that capability to partners," allowing publishers to "take advantage of it and have a true cross-platform gaming-centric mobile experience." Bond added that the decision to make the store web-based will allow it to be accessed from any device and any country without requiring a connection to another ecosystem.

• It was previously revealed by Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer that the company was focused on Activision Blizzard King's mobile business rather than Call of Duty when acquiring the publisher last year. King remains one of the largest mobile gaming companies, with Activision stating that the total player base for King games back in Q2 2022 consisted of 240 million players.

More Xbox news:

• Just one day after shutting down Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks, Xbox Game Studios head Matt Booty reportedly told employees that the company needs more smaller releases.

• Xbox's Perfect Dark reboot is said to be in a "very rough state" after years of development issues.