Phil Spencer, Microsoft Gaming CEO, has revealed that Xbox is currently in talks with partners to explore the idea of launching its own mobile gaming store to make the company “strong across many screens.”
Bloomberg reports that in an interview at the CCXP convention in Sao Paulo this week, Spencer said: “It’s [mobile gaming] an important part of our strategy and something we are actively working on today not only alone but talking to other partners who’d also like to see more choice for how they can monetize on the phone.”
This comes less than two months after Microsoft’s acquisition of Activision Blizzard King was officially closed. King is best known for its work on the Candy Crush puzzle games, which are some of the most popular mobile games ever made. Beyond that, Activision and Blizzard have worked on a number of notable mobile titles like Diablo Immortal and Call of Duty: Mobile. In August, Spencer spoke about the importance of mobile gaming, and even said: “The reason we're in the acquisition discussion with Activision Blizzard King is around their mobile capability.”
He added: "It is about a capability on mobile, and some broader ambitions that we have on the largest gaming platform, which is mobile phones."
In Bloomberg’s latest interview, Spencer expressed similar views: “We’ve talked about choice, and today on your mobile phones, you don’t have choice,’’ he said. “To make sure that Xbox is not only relevant today but for the next 10, 20 years, we’re going to have to be strong across many screens.”
Furthermore, he added that he doesn’t believe that Xbox’s own mobile gaming store would be “multiple years away,” but “sooner than that.” However, he didn’t elaborate on any specific plans.
Now that Microsoft has acquired Activision Blizzard King, it owns the Call of Duty franchise, which many consider to be home to some of the best FPS games. You can find more fantastic games to play in our roundup of the best multiplayer PC games.
