We're probably five years away from commercial viability, so it would make sense to be building the gaming capability right now. It won't be about the money required at this stage that is the least relevant bottleneck at Apple. Perhaps the gaming push takes longer to bring to fruition, and video was seen as easy pickings while the hard work behind the scenes continues. Or maybe that's just because Apple develops in private rather than in public. The company has a strong position in music, and is building towards a strong position in video, yet gaming has higher revenues than both of those two segments combined and Apple's not pushing strongly in that area. This seems rather short-sighted on Apple's part, and possibly related to the age of senior management. Perhaps their real push for it will be for the VR/AR headset. They need to put a lot more money into to make it a thriving service on all their platforms. Gaming is basically another vital consumer service, yet they are relying on 3rd parties to provide it. They see the value in video and music streaming services, and spend billions every year to develop them.
Gaming is one of Apple's Achilles' heels. Microsoft retains all the value, all the leverage, and Apple would basically be at their mercy if cloud gaming takes off. Yes, cloud streaming is basically a Trojan horse. My apologies for not getting the sarcasm. "In addition to Xbox Game Pass, we were also open to bringing select individual games to iOS as we do today with titles like Minecraft."īut after the epic slime fest, it seems Apple had great foresight. Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming CVP Kareem Choudhry disagreed, telling The Verge, "The reasons for rejection were unrelated to in-app purchase capabilities we currently provide Xbox Cloud Gaming through a singular Xbox Game Pass app in the Google Play Store without IAP enabled, for example, and we would do the same through the App Store if allowed."Ĭhoudhry states that triple-A games aren't entirely off the table, either.
"Unfortunately, Microsoft proposed a version of xCloud that was not compliant with our App Store Review Guidelines, specifically the requirement to use in-app purchase to unlock additional features or functionality within an app," reads a statement via Apple spokesperson Adam Dema. Microsoft would go on to launch Xbox Game Pass as a Safari-enabled service a month later.Īpple went on to clarify to The Verge that Microsoft had proposed a version of xCloud that was not compliant with the App Store, as well. However, because the apps would still require a single streaming tech app to work, it still violated App Store policies. "This would be an incredibly exciting opportunity for iOS users to get access to these exclusive AAA titles in addition to the Game Pass games," she wrote. Wright suggested that if Apple allowed the Xbox Game Pass library on the App Store, Microsoft would be willing to turn triple-A titles into standalone apps. However, Microsoft wasn't entirely unwilling to bring Xbox-exclusive titles to the iPhone. "We believe that the issues described here will create frustration and confusion for customers, resulting in a sub-par experience on Apple devices relative to the equivalent experience on all other platforms," Lori Wright, Microsoft's head of business development, wrote. Microsoft also expressed concern over how it would make bug fixes and updates significantly more demanding on the app developers.
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In addition, the company noted that Apple players would need to navigate to each title in the App Store and download it, rather than selecting from a list in a single app. Microsoft explained that Apple customers would receive Xbox titles significantly later to those on the streaming services. The company had sent emails to Apple, as seen by The Verge, that explained that it wouldn't be practical - to Microsoft or App Store customers. Microsoft had concerns about turning each game into an individual app. If a developer wanted a game to exist on iPhone or iPad, the game would be required to have an individual App Store listing.Īpple even went as far as loosening gaming rules to allow developers to create catalog apps - that is, apps that would direct users to individual App Store listings. This prevented Netflix-like cloud gaming services such as Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Microsoft xCloud from existing on Apple's App Store. Apple's terms of service bans cloud gaming services from the App Store due to a requirement that "each game must be downloaded directly from the App Store."