Microsoft has been working very hard to push people to sub to Game Pass. After the Zenimax acquisiiton gives their roster new strength, the company is looking for new places to hawk their wares. And according to a new report from Business Insider, the company has some very interesting plans ahead. The big plan seems to be that they want to bring the service to iOS and other new platforms. Xbox One, Windows 10 PCs, and Android devices already have support, but it looks like something new is coming.
Microsoft wasn’t able to negotiate to bring Xbox Game Pass on Switch and PlayStation, so they’re looking to pivot for a bigger get. The iOS ecosystem is pretty locked down when it comes to gaming. Mac support is usually something that developers have to work directly with Apple on. There could be a way around the issue of having to adapt games to a new OS. Running the on-demand Game Pass via a customized web interface could be possible. We know this could be the plan from Phil Spencer specifically the company could be working toward a “direct browser-based solution.”
“The thing about other gaming console platforms is we’re not able to bring a full Xbox experience on those platforms,” Spencer said in an interview with GameStar.
“In places where we have brought Xbox – mobile phones like we’re doing now with Project xCloud with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate [and] what we’ve done with PC bringing our full Xbox experience there – we know when somebody is playing one of our Xbox games there is an expectation that they’ve got their Xbox Live community, they have their Achievements, Game Pass is an option, my first-party library is completely there.”
The justification does make sense. Unifying the ecosystem will be pretty important to compete with Sony and Nintendo going forward on gaming. If Microsoft brings Xbox Game Pass to iOS and web browsers, there’s a big chance that Microsoft could run away with the on-demand gaming market.
