The technology exists — but we’re still waiting.

A few weeks ago, Microsoft exec Sarah Bond said that in November, “players will be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox App on Android.” It’s almost December and the feature still isn’t live, but Bond says it’s not Microsoft’s fault.

The problem, as she puts it, is that Microsoft would only be able to do it once a court order takes effect that forces sweeping changes for Google’s Play Store on Android, like opening it up to competition and ending the requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing.

  • @[email protected]English
    5•4 hours ago

    To this day I can’t understand how one of the wealthiest corporations of the world ends up with Mattrick, Spencer and Bond at the helm of their gaming division. This unholy triunvirate has overseen TV, Kinect, and a blatant attempt at dumping by lowering the value of software, they tried and failed to spend everyone out of blockbuster access and yet, after a decade, they still haven’t been able to produce a handful of good games from the massive stable of studios they gobbled up. Worse, they closed the studio that made the best game of their entire catalog. How, just how can these incompetent idiots keep failing upwards, please make it make sense.

  • @VoyajerEnglish
    37•8 hours ago

    Nothing is stopping them from releasing the APK standalone.

  • @LedivinEnglish
    22•10 hours ago

    Ohhhh no, poor Microsoft can’t further their monopoly until they comply with court orders! Poor, poor corporation

    • @halcyoncmdrEnglish
      29•10 hours ago

      Correction, MIcrosoft can’t do this until Google complies with court orders.

      • Pup BiruEnglish
        2•5 hours ago

        Ohhhh no, poor Microsoft can’t further their monopoly until GOOGLE comply with THEIR MONOPOLY-BREAKING court orders! Poor, poor MONOPOLIES

        ftfy, i’m not sure which is worse

        (well, one because it’s factually untrue… but…)

        • imecth
          1•4 hours ago

          I dislike microsoft as much as the next guy, but xbox doesn’t have a monopoly on phones, or really any presence at all. Competition on android is good for everyone but google.

  • @einlanderEnglish
    8•9 hours ago

    Yet Steam exists. If I was Microsoft I would be trying to improve the handheld experience on Windows. Launchers, games, and the os absolutely are not integrated and fight each other.

    • Pup BiruEnglish
      6•5 hours ago

      if only they had some way to ram an unwanted LLM into it