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

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.

As AppleInsider reported in March 2020, gaming services also can't offer any third-party games — which would limit the number of titles available on platforms like Google Stadia or Microsoft xCloud.

56 Comments

InspiredCode 405 comments · 8 Years

About 4 years ago

I agree with Microsoft on this, but Apple (if they say anything) will probably argue they are not a general purpose platform and instead compare themselves to the Xbox store. I really wish Apple would see iOS as the post-PC platform for everything.

canukstorm 2740 comments · 11 Years

InspiredCode said:

I agree with Microsoft on this, but Apple (if they say anything) will probably argue they are not a general purpose platform and instead compare themselves to the Xbox store. I really wish Apple would see iOS as the post-PC platform for everything.

When you have 1.7 million apps on your platform, you don't get the pleasure or the privilege of saying you're not a general purpose platform. If they did, that would be a BS argument. MS is the only competitor that has the size and economic clout to go after Apple on this and I'm glad that they're raising the issue regarding Apple's dogmatic handling of the App Store.

genovelle 1481 comments · 16 Years

canukstorm said:

InspiredCode said:

I agree with Microsoft on this, but Apple (if they say anything) will probably argue they are not a general purpose platform and instead compare themselves to the Xbox store. I really wish Apple would see iOS as the post-PC platform for everything.

When you have 1.7 million apps on your platform, you don't get the pleasure or the privilege of saying you're not a general purpose platform. If they did, that would be a BS argument. MS is the only competitor that has the size and economic clout to go after Apple on this and I'm glad that they're raising the issue regarding Apple's dogmatic handling of the App Store.

Apple is on point here. If you want to play on our platform play by our rules. I may be wrong, but I’m sure Microsoft is not letting Sony games stream to Xbox. Microsoft can’t be trusted. Why would they undermine their own development platform? If game developers were wooed to this and stopped developing for iOS directly, it would make us dependent on Microsoft like we were for the first Macintosh. Then when Microsoft looses interest like the tend to do, the platform would suffer.

sflocal 6133 comments · 16 Years

genovelle said:

canukstorm said:

InspiredCode said:

I agree with Microsoft on this, but Apple (if they say anything) will probably argue they are not a general purpose platform and instead compare themselves to the Xbox store. I really wish Apple would see iOS as the post-PC platform for everything.

When you have 1.7 million apps on your platform, you don't get the pleasure or the privilege of saying you're not a general purpose platform. If they did, that would be a BS argument. MS is the only competitor that has the size and economic clout to go after Apple on this and I'm glad that they're raising the issue regarding Apple's dogmatic handling of the App Store.

Apple is on point here. If you want to play on our platform play by our rules. I may be wrong, but I’m sure Microsoft is not letting Sony games stream to Xbox. Microsoft can’t be trusted. Why would they undermine their own development platform? If game developers were wooed to this and stopped developing for iOS directly, it would make us dependent on Microsoft like we were for the first Macintosh. Then when Microsoft looses interest like the tend to do, the platform would suffer.

Exactly. Microsoft is being a hypocrite when one realizes Microsoft is (arguably) even more stringent about the Xbox Live store.

CloudTalkin 916 comments · 5 Years

genovelle said:

canukstorm said:

InspiredCode said:

I agree with Microsoft on this, but Apple (if they say anything) will probably argue they are not a general purpose platform and instead compare themselves to the Xbox store. I really wish Apple would see iOS as the post-PC platform for everything.

When you have 1.7 million apps on your platform, you don't get the pleasure or the privilege of saying you're not a general purpose platform. If they did, that would be a BS argument. MS is the only competitor that has the size and economic clout to go after Apple on this and I'm glad that they're raising the issue regarding Apple's dogmatic handling of the App Store.

Apple is on point here. If you want to play on our platform play by our rules. I may be wrong, but I’m sure Microsoft is not letting Sony games stream to Xbox. Microsoft can’t be trusted. Why would they undermine their own development platform? If game developers were wooed to this and stopped developing for iOS directly, it would make us dependent on Microsoft like we were for the first Macintosh. Then when Microsoft looses interest like the tend to do, the platform would suffer.

Apple isn't on point. It is their platform and their rules, but that doesn't make them on point. Yes you are wrong. Microsoft has nothing to do with Sony games not streaming on XBox. Sony ain't letting their exclusive IP play on XBoxes. If Sony would let it happen, MS would sacrifice virgins to be able to have games like Uncharted, God of War, or the Last of US on their console. That's not to say they won't play nice in the future since the groundwork is already being laid. https://news.microsoft.com/2019/05/16/sony-and-microsoft-to-explore-strategic-partnership/ But make no mistake, that ball is firmly in Sony's court to play.

Your dev theory makes no sense at all. Any dev wanting to code on either platform can do so now, without restriction. iOS and XCloud gaming is fundamentally different and targeted at completely different play styles. No disrespect to iOS devs, but why would MS want to woo them? It's not like they have any AAA game development experience. They have experience primarily in mobile game development. That's not what XCloud is about. It's about bring the AAA experience to any and every device possible. They're trying to bring Red Dead Redemption 2 and it's gargantuan 100+GB file size to iPads.