Join Now

Want news that’s as fresh as your morning coffee? Join our community and stay in the know!

Microsoft Blames Google Over Not Selling Games Via Its App

Date:

Share:

Back in October, Microsoft announced that come November, it would be able to finally start selling Xbox games via its app on Android devices. This, as The Verge points out, has not yet happened. Now Xbox president Sarah Bond has taken to social media to lay the blame for this delay squarely at Google’s feet.

A year ago, Epic won a massive and surprising victory against Google in their ongoing lawsuit. Right now, all purchases on Android devices are required to go through Google’s payment system, from which the search company extracts a 30 percent fee. Epic, which wants to be able to sell Fortnite in-game items without handing a third of the money over to Google, went to court to argue this was anti-competitive. Epic’s win, followed by the judge’s rather excitable comments and eventual ruling in October 2024, meant Google would be required to end its dominance and allow alternative methods to make purchases on its devices from which it would not receive a cut.

Yes, “would,” because of course that hasn’t happened. Microsoft was perhaps a little over its skis in declaring its plans based on the ruling, given that of course Google appealed, and an “administrative stay” was granted to prevent this significant overhaul.

Posting on BlueSky yesterday, Sarah Bond explained the reasons for the delay from her perspective. “I recently shared our ambition to unlock these features first with the Google Play Store on Android devices in the U.S. while other app stores adapt to meet consumer demand,” she wrote, within a thread. “Due to a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts, we are currently unable to launch these features as planned.”

Bond goes on to say that Microsoft has the “functionality built and ready to go live,” but is waiting on the court to get the go-ahead.

Unmatched Baby Essentials

baby

━ more like this

Space Force lacks ‘warfighting ethos,’ experts say

U.S. policies around weapons in space, its over-classification of space capabilities and a lacking “warfighting ethos” are undermining public perception of the Space Force...

A Reading Expert’s Case for Rethinking Fluency

Reading fluency — the ability to read accurately, automatically and with appropriate expression — remains a critical yet often overlooked component of literacy development....

Air Force tests unarmed nuclear missile in pre-dawn video

The Air Force conducted a test launch of an unarmed Minuteman III missile early Wednesday to help ensure its land-based nuclear force still operates...

The D Brief: Trump blames Kyiv for war; DOGE at Pentagon; Uncertainty at SDA; State’s Afghan-resettlement office at risk; And a bit more.

Trump joins Putin’s Ukraine blame game: Almost exactly three years ago, Russia’s military launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a young democracy on Russia’s...

US troops, Afghan allies say executive orders endanger their families

Editor’s note: For this story, Military Times spoke to multiple U.S. service members, as well as Afghans who assisted the U.S. during the war...

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here