Microsoft’s Mobile Store Is a Hard Sell

gamesreviews.com:

There’s only one thing you can say for certain about the current mobile phone gaming market: the stores are pretty locked in. It’s Google Play or it’s Apple’s App Store. Microsoft’s plans for a third alternative is going to have an uphill struggle.

This has slowly been coming out over the course of the company’s purchase of Activision. One of the big reasons for the purchase – on top of Call of Duty and hundreds of other Game Pass friendly IP – is for the Candy Crush company, King. It’s hoped between King’s stuff and Call of Duty mobile, this will provide a foundation for the new store.

This would be a good thing. That just two stores can control the lion’s share of all that massive mobile revenue is outrageous. And it’s not necessarily even about which phone you have. I use the Apple store for movies, and I’m sure I’d end up using Google’s store for things if I wasn’t so already in their ecosystem.

But naturally it isn’t as easy as it being nice to have an alternative. It’s not enough to want the market to be fairer, or for things to work out a certain way. It needs to catch people’s imagination. There are too few ways for a Microsoft store to do that.

Seriously. There are few things I find less interesting than where I get my apps from. If it’s easy to find on my phone, then it’ll get used.

To ask me to actively hunt out your store, as some kind of statement against Google or Apple is insanity. Maybe some people will try, but it’s not going to be enough.

So what exactly is the plan to make the Microsoft store stand out? I suspect there isn’t one, but here are a couple of mild things that may help.

The first is a no-brainer. There will be some kind of Game Pass integration. There will be a mobile section to Game Pass