Microsoft fires back at Apple, accusing it of treating gaming apps differently

Authored by appleinsider.com and submitted by chrisdh79

Hour after Apple explained why Microsoft's xCloud wouldn't be coming to iOS, Microsoft shot back and accused the company of "consistently treating gaming apps differently."

On Wednesday, Microsoft ended its xCloud TestFlight program on iOS and said that the service would not be arriving on iPhone and iPad. In a statement on Thursday, Apple explained that it bars apps which rely on cloud streaming, per its App Store guidelines.

Microsoft shot back at the Cupertino tech giant later on Thursday, issuing a statement to CNET that accused Apple of treating gaming apps unfairly compared to other apps on its app marketplace.

"Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny customers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass," a Microsoft spokesperson said. "And, it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content."

Microsoft admitted that it doesn't currently have a path to bring its gaming service to the App Store. However, it also said that "we are committed to finding a path to bring cloud gaming with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to the iOS platform."

"We believe that the customer should be at the heart of the gaming experience, and gamers tell us they want to play, connect, and share anywhere, no matter where they are," Microsoft added.

The specific rule in Apple's App Store guidelines that prohibits gaming apps from offering a catalog of games streamed from the cloud is guideline 3.1.2(a), which says that "each game must be downloaded directly from the App Store."

Apple's own Apple Arcade is subject to the same rules. Instead of streaming the catalog from Apple servers, users must individually download each Apple Arcade game directly to their device before playing them.

aprx4 on August 7th, 2020 at 11:22 UTC »

I'm not even interested in game streaming but still disappointed with Apple. They're clearly afraid of competition. PS Now and Game Pass make Arcade looks silly.

CameraMan1 on August 7th, 2020 at 11:16 UTC »

I have yet to see one solid argument defending Apple’s stance on this.

I typically don’t mind the walled garden approach as it usually benefits the user experience as a whole, in my opinion.

This move however, from what i can tell, benefits no one but Apple.

FudgeSlapp on August 7th, 2020 at 10:50 UTC »

Apple is making a huge mistake not allowing xCloud. The same way Netflix pushed movie streaming and Spotify pushed music streaming, game streaming is the next big thing.

Apple could’ve poised themselves so well for gaming as well. With their latest Xbox controller support, the iPad especially would’ve been amazing as a gaming device.

It would’ve done wonders for marketing too. 100s of games not needing to be downloaded at all right at your fingertips on a portable device. Apple will be left behind if they don’t accept this in.