Microsoft’s vice-president of gaming, Phil Spencer, has told employees that the company’s Xbox Game Pass streaming service “absolutely will end up on iOS.”
Microsoft says the cloud streaming service is its “vision for game-streaming technology that will complement our console hardware and give gamers more choices in how and where they play.” The streaming service is included as a part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription for $14.99 per month, with more than 100 games available.
While the game streaming service, formerly known as Project xCloud, was beta tested on iOS, but the iOS launch was indefinitely postponed, as Apple App Store rules do not allow game streaming apps like Game Pass, as Apple believes that its inability to review each game in the service’s library is a potential security risk. Game Pass streaming would only be allowed if each game was available as its own app under Apple’s rules.
However, Business Insider reports Microsoft has apparently come up with a browser-based workaround that would allow them to side-step the App Store. “We absolutely will end up on iOS,” Spencer told Microsoft employees, according to Business Insider‘s sources.
Former Apple App Store director Phil Shoemaker recently told a congressional antitrust committee that the Cupertino company uses its convoluted rules “as a weapon against competitors.”
Shoemaker mentioned the Cupertino firm’s “Apple Arcade” as evidence of this, as the company offers its own subscription gaming service while it bans similar services, like Xbox Game Pass.
Shoemaker said the company creates “arbitrary” rules that allow it to hinder or completely block competition to its own apps and services.