In October, Microsoft announced that Xbox games would soon be sold in a new place–directly from the Xbox app on Android. However, a recent court ruling has delayed those plans.
Xbox president Sarah Bond said a “temporary administrative stay” was recently granted by a US judge, and as such, Microsoft is unable to release this new Xbox feature–though it is ready to go. “Our team has the functionality built and ready to go live as soon as the court makes a final decision,” Bond said.
This all stems back to a decision in the Epic v. Google case earlier in 2024 where a judge ruled that Google is required to allow rival third-party app stores to exist within Google Play. Epic’s Tim Sweeney spearheaded the initiative in his ongoing battle against Google and its business practices.