Google is going to have to open the Google Play Store and the first to take advantage is going to be an unexpected rival: Xbox

At the expense of knowing what will happen with Google’s appeal, Judge James Donato’s decision in the Epic vs Google case is about to change the Android ecosystem forever. Because? Because Google will have to open the Google Play Store to competition for three years, which means that users will be able to download third-party stores from the Play Store and it will not be mandatory to use Google’s billing system. A very important change that Xbox is willing to take advantage of.

Little games are coming. As Sarah Bond, president of Xbox, announced through X, thanks to the court’s decision “players will be able to play and Buy Xbox games directly from the Xbox application on Android.” That is, the app will not be a simple catalog, but will allow the purchase of games. Being good news, the question is why now?

The key: play and buy. Other companies, such as PlayStation and Valve, without going any further, have applications on Android (PS App and Steam) that allow the purchase of video games without going through Google’s billing system. However, these apps do not allow you to play these games. They allow the purchase, but not the execution. Now, we cannot forget that Xbox has Xbox Cloud Gaming, a technology that allows you to play titles in the cloud. And that’s part of a subscription: Game Pass.

As detailed by Google in its payment policies, subscription services require the use of the Google Play billing system. If Xbox’s idea is to create an all-in-one app that allows the purchase and execution of games via the cloud, ergo Game Pass, it would necessarily have to go through this system and its corresponding commission. However, thanks to the outcome of the Epic vs Google case, this is no longer necessary.

The Kindle case. Something similar happens with the Kindle application, which since 2022 does not allow you to buy or rent books or subscribe to Kindle Unlimited. The reason is precisely this policy of mandatory use of the Google Play payment gateway and its commission. Perhaps this forced opening will return these possibilities to Kindle, Audible and Music users at some point.

Microsoft and its store. It’s no secret that the company is working on its own app store, one that will have its own policies and fees. In the first phase, this store will be web-based and will expand from there. Microsoft has important titles, such as ‘Candy Crush Saga’ and all its brothers, the mobile versions of ‘Call of Duty’ and ‘Diablo’… However, removing them from the Google Play Store can work against it given the volume of downloads that move.

In any case, this store should have been launched in July and, for now, we only know that it is progressing adequately and that testing is taking place.

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