If we could play franchises like Xbox Series X's "Halo" and "Gears of War" on the iPhone 12, commuting would be a lot more fun. Thanks to a recent partnership, it just might happen.

According to a recent release (in Chinese), Xbox Game Studios has partnered with TiMi, a subsidiary of Chinese conglomerate Tencent.Game Pass Ultimate lets you play Xbox console titles on your phone, but that's It is not. Tencent is a giant in the mobile gaming industry, and Microsoft seems to want to make the leap to mobile-only games.

All we have now is the announcement of this partnership, with no details revealing what will actually happen; it is clear that Tencent is responsible for many popular mobile games, while TiMi is responsible for Call of Duty Mobile, PUBG Army Attack and others.

It is unclear what franchises Microsoft has planned for mobile, but there are plenty of strong contenders; Gears of War has already made its foray into mobile with the Funko Pop! themed Gears Pop! Similarly, Xbox's flagship franchise Halo is a strong candidate for mobile, especially given the success of CoD Mobile and Halo's strong multiplayer presence.

As a Halo fan, I can't say I'm particularly excited about the prospect; previous attempts to bring "Halo" to mobile have failed to resonate with audiences, but that may simply have been because it was exclusive to Windows Phone; Windows Phone, remember?

Recent "Halo" titles have also been criticized for including microtransactions, which are notorious in mobile games; Call of Duty Mobile has plenty, and the loot boxes introduced late last year proved to be very unpopular with fans . Traditionally, microtransactions have worked like any other store. Gamers purchased the items they found most interesting. Loot boxes made acquisition feel like a gamble, and gamers had to buy mystery packs to get the items they wanted.

Since we do not know the details of the contract, we cannot discuss this matter at length. At the very least, the mobile gaming venture could offer gamers a way to play on the go without having to subscribe to Game Pass Ultimate. That said, Microsoft will likely add Game Pass functionality to some mobile title.