After the ruling in the Play Store, you can buy and play games with the Xbox app

A US court recently forced Google to open the Play Store, with a number of changes imposed from November 1. Now Microsoft has announced some big changes to its Xbox app on Android.

Xbox President Sarah Bond announced on Twitter that starting next month, people will be able to buy and play Xbox games through the Xbox app on Android. Check out the screenshot below.

It’s unclear why the Xbox Android app couldn’t offer game purchases in the first place. The edge rightly points out that players can purchase games via the PlayStation and Steam apps. And this option doesn’t appear to require Play Store billing or give Google a cut of transaction fees.

However, many Xbox games can be played on Android through the subscription-based Xbox Cloud Gaming service without the need for a console. Sony and Valve also offer game streaming functionality, but these are free solutions that let you stream titles from your PlayStation or PC. Indeed, Google’s support page mentions that apps with subscription services are required to use Play Store billing.

Nevertheless, we’re curious to see if other major app makers will offer purchases in their apps after this Google ruling. I’m particularly interested in the Kindle app offering book purchases after this functionality was discontinued in 2022.

We’ve emailed Microsoft for more information about these changes to the Xbox app on Android and will update the article accordingly.