Got an iPhone? You will not play xCloud streaming games as part of Xbox Game Pass
As in streaming games from the cloud, I see the future of the industry in the next decades, today launching games on the server is a complementary solution for stationary platforms. This is why, even though I am a gamer, I don’t think to tear my robes and ditch the iPhone because of xCloud.
The news that all interested parties expected has already been confirmed: streaming games from Microsoft as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate service will not be available on Apple’s mobile devices. The company from Redmond initially planned to launch xCloud on both currently important mobile platforms, but willingly or not, it chose one card: Android.
Microsoft has stopped testing the xCloud service on iPhones and iPads.
The fact that the beta tests are over, however, does not mean that Microsoft has just pulled the plug overnight. In fact, the company abandoned the development of xCloud for iOS and iPadOS many weeks ago. Yesterday it was just three months since the last TestFlight application build appeared and access to it automatically expired.
It is also worth noting that xCloud in the test version on Apple devices did not allow to test the service in the form in which it will go to Android as part of the Xbox Game Pass application, but only the gameplay streaming technology itself. The client application allowed to run only one predefined collection of games, i.e. Halo: Master Chief Collection.
I myself had the opportunity to check this early development version of xCloud on the iPhone and iPad in recent weeks.
I will also mention that during the tests, servers in Poland were not available, and my devices connected (via VPN) to servers in England, but … it worked quite well at this stage . This way I checked both the single player campaign and the multiplayer mode, and despite quality drops, delays and artifacts, the gameplay was possible.
I am also firmly convinced that in a few or a dozen years the technical barriers to software streaming will disappear and it will become the basic way of consuming this branch of culture. There is nothing to cheat, however – it’s great that we don’t wait in line , but today streaming games from the cloud is a complementary service. Netflix for Games is a niche full of compromises.
So today it is impossible to write about the fact that "players should abandon the iPhone".
Now I come across such headlines and I rub my eyes – why would they do it? Android devices should not be looked at now by "gamers", but at most "conscious gamers who are interested in streaming", and there are a handful of them. For years, the others will be wary of the cloud, and they will play Pokemon GO and mini-games from the App Store on iPhones.
The fact that on September 15, 2020, I will not be able to run xCloud on my iPhone, by no means prompts me to abandon my current phone in favor of Android. This is not the case for a simple reason: today, access to the new Microsoft service does not outweigh other advantages of iOS over the competing platform. It may change sometime, but it will be years before it happens.
In a few years, however, we may not even remember the fact that xCloud on iPhones and iPads was not available to start.
It is true that Apple says directly that it does not want streaming, but this is not the first time that the company blocks third-party access to the App Store, because they want to put an application in it that is against its interests. Whether it is right or not, is a secondary issue from our perspective, because we have no influence on it anyway. The fact is that both corporations are currently jostling and trying to win as much as possible for each other.
But what does the Cupertino company really care about? We do not know this, because we do not know the background of the talks between Apple and Microsoft, but only their effects. Apparently, however, it is not (only) about money. Microsoft, unlike many other content providers, has no problem paying a competitor a commission on sales and offers in App Store, among others Office subscriptions.
xCloud is not the only game streaming unavailable on Apple devices.
The PS4 Remote Play and Steam Remote Play apps have appeared in the app store for iOS, iPadOS and tvOS, but Valve has had a long battle for this. We managed to win the battle with Apple’s censors after a year, and that’s only because it is de facto a virtual desktop operating locally. Streaming games from the cloud is another story and double standards are emerging here.
Microsoft rightly notes that Apple does not check all Netflix series or Facebook posts, but somehow the applications of both companies are released into the App Store. The only problem, however, is these unfortunate games, which are probably completely by accident competing with the Apple Arcade subscription.
The translations of the company from Cupertino sound far-fetched, and the matter starts to smell more and more badly. However, the explanations that the company could rely, for example, on the ratings of independent organizations, are of no use. I see bad will here, and the effect is that services like xCloud, GeForce Now and Google Stadia are cut off from the App Store.
Fortunately, there is a spark of hope for gamers who want to play Xbox games on their iPhones.
Apple has always been constricted and throws power shows that consumers suffer from, but the company is slowly starting to lay down arms. It is thanks to this that new versions of the company’s systems will finally play YouTube in 4K, and Amazon is preferentially treated and returned to iPhones and iPads with the option to pay for the Prime Video service from the App Store.
Maybe it will be similar in the case of game streaming? From the consumers’ point of view, the antitrust proceedings conducted in the United States against, inter alia, Tim Cook’s company . Officials limiting the availability of xCloud and other such services may be considered an abuse of Apple’s position.
However, I am not waiting for the Xbox Game Pass with streaming support in the reservation with bated breath.
Outside the house, I play either Pokemon GO or Switch, and at home I don’t have enough time to go through everything on stationary consoles. Adding to this platform in the form of xCloud would be art for art. The only advantage here is the ability to run Xbox games on my smartphone and tablet … which I have at home anyway, at the TV.
If I were to be interested in streaming games, I would prefer GeForce Now on my TV, which would give me access to games exclusively for PCs. Apple TV and Tizen are not supported though, and I don’t have a TV or Android TV box that is supported . I can start the service from Nvidia from poverty now on my Mac .
When it comes to xCloud, I do not even dream about playing on Apple TV, but PCs may be next in line. It is also possible that the Xbox Game Pass with streaming support will appear on TVs with Tizen. Screenshots of this service’s tile as part of Samsung’s Smart TV platform have long been circulating on the web, and companies now work closely together in the mobile segment.
PS Apart from the fact that Tim Cook does not want xCloud at home, and explains it vaguely, I am very curious if the same Microsoft that would appear with its service on Apple devices would be so eager to share it on consoles from the customer’s Xbox family of similar services from competitors – such as the mentioned GeForce Now and Google Stadia …
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Got an iPhone? You will not play xCloud streaming games as part of Xbox Game Pass
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