Xbox is hellbent on circumventing Apple’s rules and getting game streaming on iOS

Bringing the cloud to the browser

Xbox has channeled its inner Epic and is bringing that Fuck You energy to its battle with Apple. Everyone has a problem with the draconian way Apple runs its App Store. Currently, Microsoft is jammed up because it can’t bring Xbox Game Pass game streaming to iOS devices without passing a review for each and every individual game on the service. Amazon’s Luna and Google’s Stadia are in the exact same situation.

“Nah, that’s not how this is going down,” Xbox says (probably). According to a report from Bloomberg, Xbox head Phil Spencer called a meeting with all employees to declare that Xbox game streaming will be on iOS devices in 2021. So, what changed? Microsoft found a workaround.

Next year, Xbox Game Pass will be offered on iPhones and iPads via a “direct browser-based solution.” Because Xbox Game Pass won’t be an app, it won’t be subject to the usual App Store policies. Now Microsoft’s challenge is building out a browser version that’s functional in ways that offer a smooth app-like experience. Nevertheless, Spencer is quoted as saying “We absolutely will end up on iOS with Game Pass.”

In the same meeting, Spencer also confirmed that getting game streaming onto Windows 10 PC is still in the works but has been pushed back to next year. This is a feature that Microsoft confirmed in 2019. It’s presumed that this will operate through the Game Pass app on PC, but there’s a chance there will be an option for a browser-based experience too. 

Microsoft told employees it plans to release a browser-based app for the Xbox Game Pass streaming service next year that will get around Apple App Store rules: ‘We absolutely will end up on iOS’ [Bloomberg]