Last month, Microsoft announced that, thanks to a recent ruling, it would allow people buy and play Xbox games directly from the Xbox App on Android starting in November. But, as we reach the end of the month, it looks like those plans will have to wait a bit.
Xbox President Sarah Bond announced on X/Twitter on Wednesday that "a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts" has delayed the functionality. Still, Bond added that they're ready to launch with the feature as soon as they have the legal go-ahead.
At Xbox, we want to offer players more choice on how and where they play, including being able to play and buy games directly from the Xbox app. 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…
— BondSarahBond (@BondSarah_Bond) November 27, 2024
"At Xbox, we want to offer players more choice on how and where they play, including being able to play and buy games directly from the Xbox app," Bond wrote. "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."
"Due to a temporary administrative stay recently granted by the courts, we are currently unable to launch these features as planned," she continued. "Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision. We are eager to launch and give more choice and flexibility to players."
Microsoft announced its plans following a recent decision by a U.S. judge that forces Google to open up its Play Store to competitors for three years. Per the ruling — the latest victory in Epic Games' long-running antitrust battle against Google — Google will have carry third-party Android app stores in the Play Store and grant third-party app stores full access to Google Play's catalogue of apps. Google, however, vowed to appeal the decision in a subsequent blog post.
For Microsoft, the ruling meant that, in theory, it would free to sell Xbox games on Android devices and allow them to be streamed as soon as they're purchased from within the same app without having to use Google Play Billing. However, it's currently unclear what this court order will mean for Microsoft's plans beyond just delaying them.
The ability to expand purchasing to the Google Play Store was only one of Microsoft's recent moves to grow Xbox's footprint in the mobile space. In May, Bond announced that Microsoft was planning to launch its own mobile game store in July, although that's been delayed. In the wake of Microsoft's $69 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard, which owns Candy Crush maker King, the company certainly has more firepower to bring to the mobile landscape.
Alex Stedman is a Senior News Editor with IGN, overseeing entertainment reporting. When she's not writing or editing, you can find her reading fantasy novels or playing Dungeons & Dragons.
