The EU may launch an investigation into Apple after Microsoft and Facebook voiced their concerns with its App Store.
As reported by Reuters, the European Commission has acknowledged that the American tech giant is on its radar and it is especially interested in the App Store which has come under fire for its strict rules.
“The Commission is aware of these concerns regarding Apple’s App Store rules,” said European Commission spokeswoman Arianna Podesta.
Earlier this month, testing for Microsoft’s cloud gaming service Project xCloud came to an end with the 10,000 beta testers losing access to the app. Apple went on to explain that it breached App Store policies, as each title needs to be reviewed on an individual basis.
Too strict?
However, Microsoft pointed out the inconsistency in Apple’s rules: “it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content.”
Last week, Facebook Gaming finally launched its app for iOS devices following its ongoing problems with getting it on the App Store. Although, the social media platform was forced to remove instant games to gain approval.
“Even on the main Facebook app and Messenger, we’ve been forced to bury instant games for years on iOS. This is shared pain across the games industry, which ultimately hurts players and devs and severely hamstrings innovation on mobile for other types of formats, like cloud gaming,” said Facebook Gaming vice president Vivek Sharma.
