In July, Microsoft will launch a marketplace with games, initially featuring titles from its own studios (such as Call of Duty: Mobile, Candy Crush, and Minecraft), and then expand the lineup to include other publishers.
Xbox Store, which will serve as an alternative to Apple App Store and Google Play Store, will operate not as an app, but as a website - Microsoft aims to provide access to it for a greater number of devices and countries.
However, it is not very clear how these games will be distributed on the Internet. iOS supports side loading, but only in the EU for now.
Microsoft first hinted at the "next-generation store" in early 2022, just a month after announcing the acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
"We want to be able to offer Xbox and content from us and our partners on any device where you can play," said Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer in an interview with the Financial Times last year. "Today we can't do it on mobile devices, but we want to build a world where we can."
This week, Microsoft closed several Bethesda studios, including the developers of Redfall and Hi-Fi Rush. It also shut down the mobile game maker Mighty Doom Alpha Dog Studios, with Roundhouse Games absorbing The Elder Scrolls Online developer ZeniMax Online Studios.
Bloomberg also reported that Microsoft is asking several current ZeniMax team members, including producers and quality testers, to agree to voluntary layoffs. The company is also considering other measures to increase game revenue, including raising prices on the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service and potentially offering more games, such as Senua's Saga: Hellblade II, for the Sony PlayStation 5 console.
Source: 9to5google, The Verge
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