Soon You Will Be Able to Play and Purchase Xbox Games On Your Android Phone

gaming, microsoft, News, xbox

On October 7th CEO, Tim Sweeney of Epic Games, shared on X that they had won their court case against Google. Judge James Donato ruled that Google will need to open up their Google Play Store to third party app stores. This gives access to any third party app store to the full catalog of Google Play apps, that is unless developers opt out separately.

Big news! The Epic Games Store and other app stores are coming to the Google Play Store in 2025 in the USA – without Google's scare screens and Google's 30% app tax – thanks to victory in Epic v Google.https://t.co/1g6uuw1CJB
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) October 7, 2024

Starting November 1st, 2024, and ending on November 1st, 2027, Google will have to…

Stop requiring Google Play Billing for apps distributed on the Google Play Store (the jury found that Google had illegally tied its payment system to its app store)
Let Android developers set their own prices for apps irrespective of Play Billing
Let Android developers link to ways to download their apps outside of the Play Store
Let Android developers tell users about other ways to pay from within the Play Store

Google can not:

Share app revenue “with any person or entity that distributes Android apps” or plans to launch an app store or app platform
Offer developers money or perks to launch their apps on the Play Store exclusively or first
Offer device makers or carriers money or perks to preinstall the Play Store
Offer device makers or carriers money or perks not to preinstall rival stores
Offer developers money or perks not to launch their apps on rival stores

At this time, it is unclear how these vast changes could affect developers and consumers. However, the President of Xbox, Sarah Bond, shared on X what Xbox’s response will be to this news.

She states “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 court's ruling to open up Google´s mobile store in the US will allow more choice and flexibility. 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…
— BondSarahBond (@BondSarah_Bond) October 10, 2024

This will change the way Xbox players interact with Xbox. It brings a whole new meaning to Xbox Play Anywhere. This also helps with the value of the Xbox ecosystem. It will be interesting to see how Xbox and other companies respond to the likelihood of Google Appealing the case. Not only that, but they are not guaranteed a future past November 1st, 2027.

The future will uncover the answers to these problems, and Gamer Social Club is here to make sure you get all the updates as they roll out.