At trial, Epic and Apple squeeze Microsoft over Xbox, xCloud restrictions

The monkey wrench of the legal system. (credit: Aurich Lawson)

Microsoft Vice President of Xbox Business Development Lori Wright took center stage at the Epic Games v. Apple trial today. The executive's testimony served up some interesting comparisons and contrasts with Epic's complaints and addressed questions about the Xbox consoles' closed, iOS-style app market and the difficulties Microsoft faced getting xCloud streaming on iOS devices.

Open vs. closed

In defending Microsoft's iOS-style 30 percent commission on apps sold on the Xbox store, Wright pointed out that the company has never made a profit on the sale of an Xbox console. That's in contrast to the profit-generating iPhone and iPad hardware and to a company like Nintendo, which doesn't take a loss on Switch hardware sales.

"The business model is set out to be an end-to-end gaming experience," Wright said. "Hardware is critical to delivering that experience. We need gamers to be able to have a console. We make money back in the long run on game sales and gaming subscriptions."

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