- Google is now allowing an optional billing system for developers
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Players can start purchasing Xbox games from the Xbox App on Android devices starting next month.
Xbox president Sarah Bond took to LinkedIn to share that the “court’s ruling to open up Google’s mobile store in the US will allow more choice and flexibility”. She added starting in November, players will be able to play and purchase Xbox games directly from the Xbox app on Android.
The statement comes after a US judge’s final ruling that deemed the Play Store an illegal monopoly. Google must now open the Play Store to third-party app stores and make its in-app purchase mechanism optional for developers for three years.
Google plans to appeal the decision.
Microsoft’s missing marketplace
Bond’s statements come after she originally confirmed Microsoft’s Xbox mobile games store plans in May during a fireside chat for Bloomberg Live.
The Xbox president said the new marketplace would start on web to ensure it is “accessible across all devices, all countries, no matter what, independent of the policies of closed ecosystem stores”.
She added that the new store would launch with titles from Microsoft’s own portfolio, including titles like Candy Crush Saga and Minecraft. It will then open up the marketplace to other publishers.
The store was supposed to launch in July, but other than a webpage, no further news has been announced.