In the wake of a US judge ordering Google to open up its Android app store, Microsoft says it will update its Xbox Android app this fall to allow users to buy games directly on the app.
“The court’s ruling to open up Google’s mobile store in the US will allow more choice and flexibility,” Xbox President Sarah Bond tweeted last night. “Our mission is to allow more players to play on more devices, so we are thrilled to share that starting in November, players will be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox App on Android.”
The existing Xbox app on Google Play has some useful features, like managing your friend list, chatting with other gamers, and sharing game clips and screenshots. But you can only view your existing game library and use the “remote install” console feature. Microsoft doesn’t let users buy games in the app because it doesn’t want to give Google a cut of in-app purchases.
The app has mostly five-star reviews, but some recent low ratings mention a few bugs. One user found that viewing multiple game recordings can cause the app to crash, while another argues the party volume setting is in a strange spot because it’s managed through “media volume” instead of through the “call volume.” Others say the download speeds are slow, signing in is cumbersome, and clip downloading glitches out.
Enabling game purchases via the Xbox app could make the app more competitive as a one-stop-shop for Xbox games, especially considering that social chatting app Discord is popular among gamers and added more Xbox functionality this year.
Earlier this year, Microsoft said it would launch its own “cross-platform” online mobile game shop to compete with Google Play and Apple’s App Store by July, but that didn’t happen and is still in testing, TechCrunch notes.
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The ruling stems from a 2020 lawsuit brought by Fortnite publisher Epic Games over Google’s in-app payment system. (Epic also sued Apple.) The ruling means that third-party app stores, like Epic’s or Xbox’s, can become available on Android devices from within Google Play.
Google may also be forced to separate from the Android operating system, its Chrome browser, or its Play store entirely because of an August ruling that found Google created an illegal “monopoly” by paying partners to make its search engine the default on today’s smartphones and mobile browsers.
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