Apple Revises App Store Policy, Allows Cloud Gaming Service but with Some Terms

Services cloud gaming made by Microsoft, xCloud, will launch officially in 22 countries on September 15 tomorrow. It's a shame that consumers can only enjoy it through Android devices, because xCloud is rated ineligible on iOS.

It was news a month ago. Recently, Apple has apparently revised the policies they apply to platform App Store. According to a CNBC report, one of the new points listed have a direct impact on the fate of the service cloud gaming such as xCloud and Stadia.

It was explained that the service cloud gaming may exist in the App Store, but there are some conditions that must be met. Most importantly, alias content gameit must be downloaded directly from the App Store. xCloud, Stadia, and other similar services only act as catalogs.

So suppose xCloud offers access to 100 game different, then each game These must be available in the App Store one by one, so they can appear in search results or chart, and can be reviewed one by one by consumers. So for example you open xCloud and want to play Destiny 2, then gameit can only be downloaded from the App Store, not from within xCloud itself.

Apple really wants service cloud gaming take a path like Apple Arcade, which is basically a subscription service to enjoy game-game available on the App Store. In addition to Apple Arcade, now there is actually a service called Gameclub which adopts the same mechanism. Long story short, what Apple wants isn't quite as practical as what xCloud or Stadia offer.

Further, each gameit must also have basic functionality. The meaning is, each game should be playable – maybe only for the first level or two – without requiring the user to subscribe first. After that, users can be directed to become customers of the service that houses them (xCloud or Stadia earlier) in order to enjoy gameit as a whole.

Of course Apple will make a profit of 30% of the subscription rates that consumers pay, and this directly concerns a hot topic lately, which involves the feud between Apple and Epic Games. If Microsoft or Google agree, it's almost certain that the xCloud and Stadia subscription rates on iOS are higher.

The alternative, of course, is that consumers can activate their subscription first at platform else, pass browser di laptop for example, before login use the account on your iPhone or iPad without having to pay again. That's if Microsoft and Google agree.

In fact, Microsoft seems to still object. "It remains a bad experience for the customer. Gamer want to go straight in game go through a curated catalog in one app as they usually do with movies or music, instead of being forced to download over 100 different apps to play game from cloud," explained a Microsoft representative to CNBC.

Google on the other hand is still reluctant to comment, and it looks like the presence of the service cloud gaming di platform iOS is still far from reality.

Sumber: CNBC and TechCrunch.