by Dan Moren
Microsoft’s xCloud will come to iOS via the browser
According to Ashley Stewart at Business Insider, Microsoft’s xCloud game streaming service would arrive on iOS in 2021, via an entirely predictable twist:
Microsoft’s gaming boss Phil Spencer told employees at an all-hands meeting on Wednesday the company is planning to bring Game Pass to Apple’s iPhone and iPad, targeting 2021 for the potential release of a “direct browser-based solution,” Business Insider has learned.
A browser-based solution is the same angle that Amazon is taking with bringing its game streaming service to iOS, and it handily circumvents the App Store restrictions on listing games as individual titles, as well as in-app purchase.
I have trouble believing that the browser-based solution will perform as well as a native solution might, but I guess we’ll see. The real question is whether Apple’s insistence on setting its rules the way it has end up harming it or Microsoft more?