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Apple redefined its App Store rules to explicitly ban game streaming apps, which warned Microsoft gets its xCloud Xbox streaming technology on iPhones and iPads, but according to a new report, the company will attempt to circumvent the rules by allowing gamers to access xCloud through a web app.
Microsoft had added xCloud to its Game Pass subscription service, and at a recent meeting, Executive Vice President and Game Leader Phil Spencer confidently told employees that Game Pass would be coming to iPhones and iPads through a ‘solution. browser-based direct, ‘the sources said. Business Insider. Microsoft is reportedly aiming to release its version of iOS in 2021.
The redefined terms of Apple’s App Store weren’t specifically worded to keep out of competition; specifically, the company objects to game streaming services for offering catalogs of games that Apple cannot approve title-for-title. It is unclear if Microsoft’s web application solution would adhere to Apple’s rules.
Running a streaming service through a web app is exactly how the newly announced Amazon Luna plans to operate. Amazon is confident enough in this workaround that it plans to release on iPhones and iPads first when it releases its beta in the coming months, with Android support to follow.
But more importantly, Amazon worked with Apple’s Safari team to get Luna to run as a superior web app, Luna’s chief engineer told Engadget in a roundup of the upcoming service. And the partnership probably won’t stop when the service goes live, Luna’s director Marc Whitten told the publication:
“We will continue to work with Apple,” Whitten told Engadget. “We would love to do a native experience.”
Associations with me but not for you?
It’s unclear if Microsoft is investigating a similar deal with Apple to develop its xCloud Game Pass web app. But it could be a corporate relations issue: Google’s Stadia streaming service may have unfolded to all Android phones as an app in June, and it has worked on PC and Mac via Chrome browser, but not found on iOS.
In particular, Amazon and Apple bonds renewed earlier this year when the latter allowed Prime Video apps on iOS, iPadOS, and tvOS to allow in-app purchases. Amazon had previously used the popular but clumsy solution of diverting customers from the app to purchase in a browser in order to evade Apple’s 30% cut, but it appeared to have struck a deal for shoppers to buy via of the application.
The deal likely slashed the percentage Amazon gave Apple: Apple allegedly convinced Amazon in 2016 to bring Prime Video to iOS devices by agreeing to cut its cut to 15%, according to a Bloomberg report in June. While there is nothing to connect that deal with Luna, it makes sense to trace any favorable relationships between the companies regarding mobile products to this negotiation.
As this is the first time we’ve heard about Microsoft’s xCloud Game Pass web app workaround, we’ll wait to see if it follows Amazon’s lead as a collaboration with Apple or takes a different route to land on the iPhones and iPads of Players.
Via Gizmodo
