Microsoft Announces Xbox Live Support for iOS and Android, PS4 and Nintendo Switch Also Possible

There have been murmurs for awhile now regarding Microsoft's plan for expansion, especially in the world of gaming, even more so with their Xbox Live and Xbox Game Pass features. Now it looks like the process has already begun, because Microsoft has announced a new cross-platform software dev kit that will essentially bring Xbox Live to all games running on both iOS and Android devices. Even better, it looks like they have their eyes on PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch as well. Welcome to the Microsoft Game Stack.

There's a lot of developer freedom with this new initiative, giving devs a chance to choose which features of Xbox Live they'd like in their games the most including community hubs, achievements, and more. There will also be ways for players to protect their log-in information, as well as keep up child safety as well.

"We believe so strongly in community, and Xbox Live really being at the heart of our gaming community," explained Kareem Choudhry, Microsoft's gaming cloud chief recently. "If you watch what we've done, especially with Minecraft, over the past few years we've taken Xbox Live to as many platforms as Minecraft is on as possible. Really uniting all those communities together with a consistent singular experience for those gamers."

Similar to what the team did with Minecraft, Microsoft continues to expand beyond consoles and into other areas with an untapped audience. They are looking to also integrate this into PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch consoles as well, but that's simply a desire at this point and hasn't been pushed forward at this time.

"Our goal is to really unite the 2 billion gamers of the world and we're big fans of our Xbox Live community, but we don't have any specific announcements as it relates to Switch today," Choudhry added. "If you've watched us for the past few years, we've taken a very inclusive approach," says Choudhry. "Phil [Spencer] has been very proactive on issues like crossplay, cross-progression, and uniting gamer networks, and we're willing to partner with the industry as much as we possibly can."

With the Halo Master Chief Collection coming to PC, many were worried about what that means for Xbox exclusives, but really -- Microsoft is thinking about the bigger picture beyond consoles and more into Cloud-based gaming.

The future is bright for the team over at Xbox, with boundaries being pushed and what we think we know about Microsoft's take on gaming evolving right before our eyes. Interested in learning even more? Check out the full blog post from Microsoft right here.

Thoughts on the new direction for Microsoft? Sound off in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy!

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