Microsoft Wants To Create A 'Universal' Store That Works On Any Device

Imagine apple phones have the Microsoft store in it etc I think one do the new laws is making sure these things happen going forward to promote better competition and fairness. Future phones with Microsoft store, Google play store and the apple store all on one device.

But I don't see this happening for consoles, and on pc you can already have multiple stores

And I don't see any way that console games could be downloaded on mobile phones

I'm sure Apple would be perfectly happy to allow Microsoft to have their own app store and sell apps on their devices. As long as they get their 30% cut of everything. I can't even buy games on the Xbox app that's there already.

So, THIS is what they meant when they said they desire/want/commited to keep Call of Duty on PlayStation, they want to do it through their own app store.

Don't sound much different than their old "exclusive content that can be played wherever Game Pass is available."

I doubt this will go that far. There been regulations and laws proposed to force phone makers to allow third party app stores, but so far every court (latest example look at the Epic v Apple thing) seems to dismiss game consoles because they are not general computing devices and instead are dedicated gaming devices sold at a loss or razor thin margins, unlike phones that are sold at ridiculous markups.

They’ve been wanting to make the Xbox console redundant for years. Sooner or later they will succeed in that. And then surely kill off the Xbox fanboys? I dunno if there’s Netflix fanboys that battle it out against prime fanboys?…probably
Either way, you can’t get gamepass store/cloud gaming to work on apple phone right now. You can’t get gamepass on PlayStation or Nintendo right now. So I can’t see how this will make a difference any time soon.

@Tharsman
I disagree completely. I have no problem with a developer saying, "we only publish our software in store X" as long as that store is available on every platform I use. Store exclusivity is not a problem just like traditional retailers exclusively carry certain brands.

I do have a problem with being guided into buying a specific platform/device because I can only get certain apps or content I want on that platform. Why do we have to re-buy the same game for PS and for XB if we have both consoles? Wouldn't it be nice to buy once and play on whatever device you own? These universal stores can do that! Store exclusivity is ok (not ideal), but platform exclusivity drives me to buy more devices then necessary.

And there is nothing stopping Apple and Google from making app stores on Windows. MS is just coming out and doing this before them. Today, Windows already has more then one store (Steam is an example), and so does Android (Amazon AppStore is an example). It is Apple who limits consumer choice and locks their OS from competition. They are the only major platform that does that.

At the moment, the ONLY current 'gaming' devices that do not support Game Pass are the Playstation & Switch consoles. Its already available on PC's, Laptops, Mobiles, Tablets and of course Xbox consoles too so the only companies 'blocking' Game Pass are Sony/Nintendo.

Apple vs Epic was an interesting case and the basic principal that Epic was fighting for, backed and supported by MS, was about having the right to 'trade' on another's 'locked' platform as Apple has the Monopoly and can put 'charges' on Epic to make them 'anti-competitive' with their own. That would be like MS charging Steam to operate on Windows to basically price them out of 'competition' with their own services or 'Sony' stopping Microsoft from enabling them to offer Game Pass on Playstation.

Having a 'universal' payment option would 'stop' Sony from adding say '50%' on top of the MS price for GP Subscriptions to 'get' their cut and price out MS from being Competitive with their own PSNow/Spartacus service. It also stops MS from doing the same IF Sony wished to offer their own cloud service on Windows/Xbox hardware too...

We know MS wants to 'bring' (not necessarily make, port and optimise a game specifically) to Playstation/Switch hardware. The fact those Hardware SKU's are 'very' different to their Xbox/PC games -for a start, Playstation doesn't use DirectX API's and architecture is different too. If it can't do 'Mesh Shading' and VRS too, games built around this will be 'very' difficult to port. The Switch can barely run games made today but can play 'Series X' version via the Cloud - no more 'Doom' at 30fps, low res and low settings just to be 'playable' locally, they could stream the Series X 'Doom' with RT etc at 1080/60fps and provide a 'better' experience.

Streaming allows MS (and any other Company) to bring their Library of Games to ANY hardware - regardless of whether the game could run locally, regardless of how much work, time and money it would take to port, optimise and release a native version, regardless of what 'brand' is on your device...

@NeoRatt few things:
There are third party stores for Android but they are blocked by default and most phones make it very hard to enable sideloading. Even when enabled, the phone wont stop nagging users about security threats, many have made legal arguments that this is still practically as bad as Apples single-store model.

And nice as it would be, it was the courts, and hell, even Epic during their Epic v Apple case, that dismissed the need of consoles to open up for third party stores. AS nice as that would be, I doubt you will see any legal regulations forcing PlayStation, XBox or Switch to open up their platforms to third party stores, and none of them will do it willingly.

Also you answered your own question: why would they not just sell their games on every platform? Because then you have next to no reason to get into their platforms, and its not like we talking different storefronts alone. Developing a switch or PlayStation version of a game can add several million dollars to the development cost, only to end in a platform that takes 30% of the sales. Why bother? To be "nice" to us? None of these corporations are our friends.

@Tharsman
I agree with most of what you responded.

But, I do thing consumer friendly things should win out over the current model. Just because stuff is done today, does not mean it is right or should be done this way tomorrow.

I can only hope. And to me this is a step in the right direction by at least one of the companies. I can only hope that Google improves their platform so that more stores don't need the warnings, and Apple just opens a door to allow other stores.

@NeoRatt Thing is, even if Microsoft was willing to go ahead with it, even if others were not, they would not be able to.

Their most viable position would be to open XBox for other stores to be added to it, but you can bet neither Nintendo or PlayStation would be interested. The first takers would be Amazon and Samsung adding mobile-style app stores to the console.

Even less likely would be for Sony or Nintendo to open their consoles for XBox to add their app/game store to their platforms, not without being forced by law to do so, and so far, the cases I seen, no one, be it big plaintiffs or the legal institutions, care to disrupt the current norm.

So... that only leaves it at Microsoft wanting to do it so much that they sue everyone else to allow them to add an XBox game store to PlayStation and Nintendo consoles.

@Tharsman
I am more optimistic then that. If MS revenues through their store substantially increase and keep growing because of it, and if users are paying less, then that would push others to do the same.

@NeoRatt The question though is why would any company choose to allow a competing store in their own environment unless they were forced by law to do so? It's self-defeating from a business perspective. It would be like Target opening a Walmart store-within-a-store inside their stores. Why on earth would they want to do that?

@NEStalgia exactly. Not to mention, its very likely Walmart would not open a store within a store inside Target, but if they can get away going rent-free, then you would have Target flooded with Dollar Stores within a store.

And that is what will happen to consoles if the store marketplace opened up. You still wont see a PlayStation store, but you will start seeing a ton of garbage filled stores within the platforms that will heavily compromise security.

It might suck that the platforms feel a bit too locked up, but it is this locked nature that makes them what they are.

@Tharsman "A ton of garbage filled stores"
I call it: "Nintendo eShop"

Although to counter my own claim....there is the fact that Kohls now has an Amazon kiosk in stores for returns. The idea is that you're more likely to shop at Kohls if you go there to ship your Amazon returns.

I'm not sure if that works out really well in practice, but someone above my pay grade over there certainly thought so.

@NEStalgia
You and Tharsman are perfectly right. But, that doesn't mean that is good for consumers, that doesn't mean that the digital world needs to mirror the real world, and that doesn't mean it is right.

I have been buying digital content since 2007. Literally have spent $10's of thousands of dollars. If a store like MS implements universally across devices and platforms I will be much more likely to buy from them then the proprietary stores that only service a single device and platform. Because I will know that if I switch devices I can get some or all of my stuff there.

If Microsoft really wants their storefront on as many devices as possible a sure-fire way of doing that is by supporting operating systems that emphasize privacy, whether that be in new versions of Windows and its derivatives, or alternatives like GrapheneOS. The reality is people can be loyal to an all-encompassing storefront for the convenience, but they want to be in control of their purchases and don't want to be stalked by algorithms.

all i know is if i can get gamepass with all of MS games on day one like on the series x but on a ps5 ill be selling my series X theres no reason to lock myself out of sony games being i wouldnt be able to play sony games on a xbox.

@NeoRatt Yeah I agree it would be a cool thing for consumers. But I also get why digital isn't all that different from physical for business other than subscriptions.

@Blessed_Koz They likely lose money selling the hardware, so as long as you're buying games or subscribing they couldn't care less if you're using their hardware.

@Xiovanni But that's also why they're gouging their customers, nickel and diming every purchase to try to squeeze blood from stones.

I'm still angry about no gyros though. Even mobile supports good.

Not a bad idea, if Microsoft can make all games run via XCloud, not just game pass.