This argument between Microsoft and Apple is far from new, but it has resurfaced again. Earlier in the year, Apple opened its App Store to game streaming services, such as the commonly used Xbox Cloud Gaming and GeForce Now. This allowed a more seamless integration, as users didn’t have to use a web app on iPhone and iPad. Despite this, NVIDIA and Microsoft have not made native apps for iOS, which Microsoft has now explicitly explained.
Microsoft Gaming CEO Phil Spencer already spoke out about Apple earlier this year, saying that Apple’s cloud changes haven’t gone “far enough” for Xbox. In an interview with The Verge, Spencer mentioned “that there’s not enough room for us to monetize Xbox Cloud Gaming on iOS.” Regarding the terms that Apple suggested, he responded with, “You might even say they go the opposite direction in some way, but they definitely don’t go far enough to open up competition in the world’s largest gaming platform.” During that interview, Spencer said he would continue to work with Apple and Google to try and create a solution for this.
In submissions to the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), Microsoft has raised the point that despite the various changes that Apple made to the App Store guidelines in January, March, and April (as seen in sections 4.7 and 4.9), it still isn’t enough for it to operate a native Xbox Cloud Gaming app on iOS.
After reviewing Apple’s guidelines, Microsoft has said that they “still represent an obstacle to Cloud Gaming native apps” as it cannot comply with them in a technical and economical sense if it incorporates games into the Xbox Cloud Gaming services on iOS. Specifically, Apple is asking to make multiplatform services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming and all content, subscriptions, and features available within the app as an in-app purchase.
By asking that, Microsoft opens a can of worms for the third-party game developers who have their games on the service. Microsoft would then have to ask them to recode their games so that they are compliant with the IAP requirement, which is a significant amount of effort for something that may not even be successful.
However, Apple argues that it is supporting cloud gaming via web apps, citing two articles by the Verge that discuss Microsoft’s improvements to Xbox Cloud Gaming performance on iPhone and iPad and the fact that more than 20 million people have used Xbox Cloud Gaming on their iOS platforms. Apple has also claimed that Microsoft has not engaged with them despite multiple efforts to work together to make cloud gaming successful on iOS.
When it comes to the issue of third-party developers having to recede their games, Apple has also argued that point, saying that developers “generally are not having difficulty with the IPA requirement,” citing Antstream, a small app developer who was responsible for launching the first iPhone game streaming service with over 1,300 retro titles from different companies.
To try to settle this argument, the CMA has set a deadline for all parties involved to respond to the market investigation before a provisional decision report is released in November. A final report is due next year.
