- Xbox CEO says mobile app store idea is still “not dead”.
- The update follows concerns after test links stopped working.
- Microsoft continues to support open competition in mobile gaming.
It has been a good while since we had discussions online about how it might have been the end of the Xbox Mobile App Store idea. The development updates had toned down, and it was surely looking like we might not see the light. However, there is a solid official update now.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Asha Sharma has responded to the recent chatter, saying the idea of an Xbox mobile store is “not dead”. This came as a reply to a post on X, where it was mentioned that she had “killed the ill-fated Xbox Mobile store”.
In her reply, Sharma mentioned that Microsoft had recently filed an amicus brief, stressing that mobile competition still matters and that the future of gaming should be more open. She didn’t go into specifics about timelines or plans, but it was enough to confirm the project hasn’t been scrapped.
The Xbox Mobile Store has been in discussion for over two years
The Xbox Mobile Store, being dead picked up after users noticed that test links and pages related to the store were no longer working. However, these concerns are totally valid, because if you look back into the last couple of years, the whole project has had a kind of start-and-stop journey.
Microsoft first talked about an Xbox mobile store a couple of years back, when Phil Spencer, then CEO of Microsoft Gaming, said it would be ‘gamer first’ with improved economics, with plans to launch around July that year. That never happened.
Since then, things have been pretty quiet, with delays attributed to further research and market challenges. One of those updates came in late 2025, when Xbox started adding a proper store section inside its mobile app. It finally let users browse games and wishlist them properly, which felt like a step in the right direction, even if it wasn’t a full store yet.
That said, the biggest hurdle hasn’t really changed. Platforms like Google Play and Apple’s App Store still make it difficult for third-party stores to operate freely, even with increasing regulatory pressure. For example, as we saw this month itself, Aptoide has taken Google to court over Play Store monopoly claims. That’s been one of the main reasons why projects like this have struggled to take off.
So, where does this leave things? For now, the Xbox mobile store isn’t something you can use, and there’s no clear launch window. But based on the latest statement, it’s not something Microsoft has walked away from either. So while nothing is launching anytime soon, at least we now know the idea is still alive.
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