The saga started in May last year when Vole announced plans to roll out its Xbox mobile game store by summer. That didn’t happen. In a new legal brief filed during Apple’s appeal of its latest court loss to Epic, Microsoft revealed just how badly its plans have been bogged down.

According to the Volish filing, “The district court’s injunction allows Apple to maintain its in-app exclusivity, but at least should have enabled Microsoft to offer consumers a workable solution by launching its own online store  for in-app items to be purchased off-app and used in games or other apps. And that is what Microsoft wants to do. But even this solution has been stymied by Apple.”

The Verge reported the brief includes further gripes about Jobs' Mob's so-called anti-steering rules, which Vole claims block it from even telling users there are alternative ways to buy content.

“Before the district court’s most recent order, Microsoft had been unable to implement linked-out payments (or even inform customers that alternative purchase methods exist) because of Apple’s new anti-steering policies that restrict Microsoft’s communication to users and impose an even higher economic cost to Microsoft than before the injunction,” the filing reads.

The recent ruling technically allows Microsoft to open a mobile store, but Microsoft doesn’t want the whole thing yanked away if Apple wins its appeal, so it’s backing Epic’s stance to keep the pressure on.

Microsoft pointed out that Apple could reverse course later if it won in court.

“Apple makes no argument that the technical or policy changes cannot be undone,” the company wrote, adding that “experience managing app stores confirms that Apple’s policies could be restored if Apple ultimately prevails on appeal.”