Is Microsoft building a Xbox mobile store?

(Image Courtesy: Microsoft)

Microsoft is apparently working on a Xbox branded games store for mobile devices. The details were unearthed from a filing that the Redmond technology giant made to the UK Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which is investigating the proposed Activision Blizzard acquisition.

Microsoft first proposed the acquisition earlier this year, and has since been subject to various investigations that seek to understand if the deal would be determent to competitors like Sony.

As reported by The Verge, Microsoft said in the filling, "The transaction will improve Microsoft’s ability to create a next generation game store which operates across a range of devices, including mobile as a result of the addition of Activision Blizzard’s content."

It said that it wanted to build, "on Activision Blizzard's existing communities of gamers," and the Xbox brand, "will scale the store to mobile" which would attract new gamers to the "Xbox mobile platform".

Microsoft also admits that, "Shifting consumers away from the Google Play Store and App Store on mobile devices will, however, require a major shift in consumer behavior. Microsoft hopes that by offering well-known and popular content, gamers will be more inclined to try something new."

Of the existing Activision Blizzard franchises, Call of Duty Mobile and Candy Crush are the two most popular mobile games in the troubled studio's stable. Microsoft has also been increasingly pushing its Xbox Cloud Gaming platform on mobile devices, including support for Logitech's G Cloud and the Razer Edge.

The filing goes on to say that the acquisition will give Microsoft, "a meaningful presence in mobile gaming," and that, "revenues from the King division and titles such as Call of Duty: Mobile, as well as ancillary revenue, represented more than half of Activision Blizzard’s ... revenues in the first half of 2022."