In October, it became very clear that Microsoft and Google were at war again. After a six-year truce on legal battles ended in 2021, Google has, in recent months, been voicing its concerns about Microsoft’s cloud business. That particular dispute is at the “lobbying regulators” stage, but another disagreement between the two tech giants has slipped into the courts and the public sphere and could sway the very future of Xbox.
Microsoft revealed last week that it built a new Xbox game store for Android but has been unable to launch it. The store relies on a key court ruling that would force sweeping changes to Google’s Play Store, opening it up to competition and ending the requirement for apps to use Google Play Billing. Microsoft has been desperate for regulators to act and pave the way for its ambitious Xbox mobile efforts. But after the court ruling offered a brief moment of hope, Google won a temporary administrative stay blocking the changes from coming into effect in November.
Microsoft had planned to sell games directly in its Xbox app for Android and allow customers to immediately stream those games directly to their phones and tablets. These two features combined aren’t…