Microsoft Is Launching Its Own Mobile Gaming Store Soon

From PC Mag: Microsoft is launching is own "cross-platform" online mobile game shop to compete with Google's Play Store and Apple's App Store.

The new competitor will launch this July, according to Microsoft, and will only offer Microsoft-owned games to start, like Candy Crush, Farm Heroes, Minecraft's mobile version, Call of Duty: Mobile, and Diablo Immortal. These games won't necessarily be added all at once, though. Shortly after launch, Microsoft's mobile gaming store will then open up to include third-party games.

"It's something we've wanted to do for a long time," Xbox President Sarah Bond said in an interview with Bloomberg Thursday, revealing the news at the outlet's tech conference.

Bond says a big reason Microsoft pushed to acquire Activision Blizzard, which also includes mobile game studio King, was so that Microsoft could push into mobile gaming in a big way.

"There isn't actually a gaming platform in-store experience that is centered around players and goes truly cross-device," Bond said.

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