Microsoft’s upcoming “Project xCloud” game streaming service, set to launch on September 15th, will be Android-only, despite being tested heavily on iOS via TestFlight during the service’s beta testing. Any launch on iOS is said to have been postponed indefinitely.
Project xCloud is Microsoft’s “vision for game-streaming technology that will complement our console hardware and give gamers more choices in how and where they play.” The service will be bundled as a part of Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription service, priced at $14.99 per month. The service will have 100+ games available at launch.
Although Microsoft tested xCloud on iOS with a closed beta of 10,00 testers, App Store guidelines prohibit services that rely on streaming games from the cloud. This despite the growing popularity of live game streaming.
“It’s our ambition to scale cloud gaming through Xbox Game Pass available on all devices, but we have nothing further to share at this time regarding iOS,” a Microsoft spokesperson told The Verge.
While the Android version was able to stream games from an Xbox console, the iOS version was limited to streaming games from the cloud only.
Only one title, “Halo: The Master Chief Collection,” was available on the TestFlight app. App Store rules state that “games offered in a game subscription must be owned or exclusively licensed by the developer.”
Similar streaming services – Google Stadia and Nvidia GeForce Now – are still unavailable on iOS. Apple initially rejected Valve’s Steam Link app, saying there were “business conflicts,” before eventually approving it nearly a year later.