'Halo' and other big Microsoft games were almost individual iPhone apps

Internal Microsoft emails show how the company was considering bringing Xbox-exclusive games to the iPhone as standalone apps in the Apple App Store for a while.

Apple's terms of service bans cloud gaming services from the App Store due to a requirement that "each game must be downloaded directly from the App Store."

This prevented Netflix-like cloud gaming services such as Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Microsoft xCloud from existing on Apple's App Store. If a developer wanted a game to exist on iPhone or iPad, the game would be required to have an individual App Store listing.

Apple even went as far as loosening gaming rules to allow developers to create catalog apps — that is, apps that would direct users to individual App Store listings.

Microsoft had concerns about turning each game into an individual app. The company had sent emails to Apple, as seen by The Verge, that explained that it wouldn't be practical — to Microsoft or App Store customers.

The concerns were many. Microsoft explained that Apple customers would receive Xbox titles significantly later to those on the streaming services. In addition, the company noted that Apple players would need to navigate to each title in the App Store and download it, rather than selecting from a list in a single app.

Microsoft also expressed concern over how it would make bug fixes and updates significantly more demanding on the app developers.

"We believe that the issues described here will create frustration and confusion for customers, resulting in a sub-par experience on Apple devices relative to the equivalent experience on all other platforms," Lori Wright, Microsoft's head of business development, wrote.

However, Microsoft wasn't entirely unwilling to bring Xbox-exclusive titles to the iPhone. Wright suggested that if Apple allowed the Xbox Game Pass library on the App Store, Microsoft would be willing to turn triple-A titles into standalone apps.

"This would be an incredibly exciting opportunity for iOS users to get access to these exclusive AAA titles in addition to the Game Pass games," she wrote.

However, because the apps would still require a single streaming tech app to work, it still violated App Store policies. Ultimately, Apple rejected the proposal. Microsoft would go on to launch Xbox Game Pass as a Safari-enabled service a month later.

Apple went on to clarify to The Verge that Microsoft had proposed a version of xCloud that was not compliant with the App Store, as well.

"Unfortunately, Microsoft proposed a version of xCloud that was not compliant with our App Store Review Guidelines, specifically the requirement to use in-app purchase to unlock additional features or functionality within an app," reads a statement via Apple spokesperson Adam Dema.

Microsoft's Xbox Cloud Gaming CVP Kareem Choudhry disagreed, telling The Verge, "The reasons for rejection were unrelated to in-app purchase capabilities; we currently provide Xbox Cloud Gaming through a singular Xbox Game Pass app in the Google Play Store without IAP enabled, for example, and we would do the same through the App Store if allowed."

Choudhry states that triple-A games aren't entirely off the table, either.

"In addition to Xbox Game Pass, we were also open to bringing select individual games to iOS as we do today with titles like Minecraft."

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52 Comments

9secondkox2 3128 comments · 8 Years

About 2 years ago

Coulda had an iPhone native halo? Dang.

tht 5594 comments · 23 Years

9secondkox2 said:

Coulda had an iPhone native halo? Dang.

That's not my read. It's still a cloud streamed game, it would just have an individual listing in Apple's App Store instead of an XBox cloud store app.

So, Halo would be running on a PC or Xbox in a data center, and streaming the display to client iOS devices. That's not native whatsoever. Native is a compiled app using Apple's ObjC/Swift/Metal frameworks.

tht said:

9secondkox2 said:

Coulda had an iPhone native halo? Dang.

That's not my read. It's still a cloud streamed game, it would just have an individual listing in Apple's App Store instead of an XBox cloud store app.

So, Halo would be running on a PC or Xbox in a data center, and streaming the display to client iOS devices. That's not native whatsoever. Native is a compiled app using Apple's ObjC/Swift/Metal frameworks.

It seems I forgot to post an “/s” following my post.

Can you imagine what everyone would be doing if Apple allowed cloud? Epic snd all the rest of the sleaze would be trying to use that to redefine what an App Store is and try to assault iPhone users with untold number of crap schemes.

At first, I’ll be honest, I thought Apple was wrong about xcloud initially.

But after the epic slime fest, it seems Apple had great foresight.

9secondkox2 said:

tht said:

9secondkox2 said:

Coulda had an iPhone native halo? Dang.

That's not my read. It's still a cloud streamed game, it would just have an individual listing in Apple's App Store instead of an XBox cloud store app.

So, Halo would be running on a PC or Xbox in a data center, and streaming the display to client iOS devices. That's not native whatsoever. Native is a compiled app using Apple's ObjC/Swift/Metal frameworks.

It seems I forgot to post an “/s” following my post.
Can you imagine what everyone would be doing if Apple allowed cloud? Epic snd all the rest of the sleaze would be trying to use that to redefine what an App Store is and try to assault iPhone users with untold number of crap schemes.

At first, I’ll be honest, I thought Apple was wrong about xcloud initially.

But after the epic slime fest, it seems Apple had great foresight.

My apologies for not getting the sarcasm. Yes, cloud streaming is basically a Trojan horse. Microsoft retains all the value, all the leverage, and Apple would basically be at their mercy if cloud gaming takes off.

Gaming is one of Apple's Achilles' heels. They see the value in video and music streaming services, and spend billions every year to develop them. Gaming is basically another vital consumer service, yet they are relying on 3rd parties to provide it. They need to put a lot more money into to make it a thriving service on all their platforms. Perhaps their real push for it will be for the VR/AR headset.

FileMakerFeller 1561 comments · 6 Years

tht said:

9secondkox2 said:

tht said:

9secondkox2 said:

Coulda had an iPhone native halo? Dang.

That's not my read. It's still a cloud streamed game, it would just have an individual listing in Apple's App Store instead of an XBox cloud store app.

So, Halo would be running on a PC or Xbox in a data center, and streaming the display to client iOS devices. That's not native whatsoever. Native is a compiled app using Apple's ObjC/Swift/Metal frameworks.

It seems I forgot to post an “/s” following my post.
Can you imagine what everyone would be doing if Apple allowed cloud? Epic snd all the rest of the sleaze would be trying to use that to redefine what an App Store is and try to assault iPhone users with untold number of crap schemes.

At first, I’ll be honest, I thought Apple was wrong about xcloud initially.

But after the epic slime fest, it seems Apple had great foresight.

My apologies for not getting the sarcasm. Yes, cloud streaming is basically a Trojan horse. Microsoft retains all the value, all the leverage, and Apple would basically be at their mercy if cloud gaming takes off.

Gaming is one of Apple's Achilles' heels. They see the value in video and music streaming services, and spend billions every year to develop them. Gaming is basically another vital consumer service, yet they are relying on 3rd parties to provide it. They need to put a lot more money into to make it a thriving service on all their platforms. Perhaps their real push for it will be for the VR/AR headset.

This seems rather short-sighted on Apple's part, and possibly related to the age of senior management. The company has a strong position in music, and is building towards a strong position in video, yet gaming has higher revenues than both of those two segments combined and Apple's not pushing strongly in that area.

Or maybe that's just because Apple develops in private rather than in public. Perhaps the gaming push takes longer to bring to fruition, and video was seen as easy pickings while the hard work behind the scenes continues. It won't be about the money required; at this stage that is the least relevant bottleneck at Apple.

The VR/AR angle... maybe. We're probably five years away from commercial viability, so it would make sense to be building the gaming capability right now. And if it takes off, then it will possibly have been worth ignoring/snubbing the gaming community for so long - but it's going to take so long to overcome that negative sentiment that I can't understand why steps to that effect have not been taken already.

Or maybe that's all built into the Apple Arcade strategy: a bet that casual gaming is more important than dedicated gaming (removing complexity/hardware requirements to bring in a wider audience; very Apple), that can be monetised in a reasonable way across (eventually) hundreds of millions of subscribers, and that can be controlled by Apple being selective in who they partner with. And the dedicated gamers, like the specifications-obsessed computer nerds, can carry on bitching while Apple ignores them and profitably serves the customers who see the value in what is offered.