Google’s Stadia app can’t stream games on iOS, and yesterday Microsoft said its new xCloud streaming service wouldn’t be coming to Apple devices either. Turns out there’s a pretty concrete reason for both of those omissions: Apple won’t let them.
In a statement released to Business Insider earlier today, Apple says “The App Store was created to be a safe and trusted place for customers to discover and download apps, and a great business opportunity for all developers. Before they go on our store, all apps are reviewed against the same set of guidelines that are intended to protect customers and provide a fair and level playing field to developers.”
Though Microsoft and Google would be submitting a central streaming app to Apple for review, they wouldn’t be submitting every single game available on the services, which seems to be the main sticking point here.
“Our customers enjoy great apps and games from millions of developers, and gaming services can absolutely launch on the App Store as long as they follow the same set of guidelines applicable to all developers, including submitting games individually for review, and appearing in charts and search,” Apple added.
While Microsoft said yesterday—in direct relation to their decision to halt testing on iOS—that the company hoped to one day stream xCloud “on all devices”, this is a pretty hard no from Apple.
UPDATE: Microsoft has come out today with a more strongly-worded statement, telling Protocol’s Seth Schiesel: