According to a recent announcement from the Cupertino based company, Apple decided to ban Xbox games from iPhone. This is a very interesting move on Tim Cook’s part, as it looks like Apple is literally going to war with the gaming industry.
This raises a legitimate question: is there any reason to buy an iPhone after the decision to ban Xbox streaming games from iPhone? As per an article in Tech Crunch, there are over 90 million active Xbox Live users, and Microsoft is a 1.6 trillion dollar company after all, hence the decision to deny Microsoft’s xCloud gaming app from the Apple Store seems a little bit strange.
The point being, Microsoft xCloud allows gamers to play console quality games and live-stream titles on their iPhones. Not anymore said Tim Cook, but here’s the catch: Apple approved Facebook’s gaming app last Friday, after Facebook was forced to remove a couple of essential features, including a library of playable mobile games.
Microsoft’s Xbox team released an official statement in regard to Apple’s decision to ban Xbox games from iPhones that reads:
“Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass. And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content.”
The thing is, iOS is world’s largest gaming platform, and Apple incidentally launched Apple Arcade last year, i.e. its own game subscription platform. So, it looks like Apple is slowly trying to eliminate competition from Apple Store, even if this move will alienate users who can’t play anymore console class titles on their iPhones.
Since people pay something like $1000 for a modern iPhone, the question to be asked is why they should support a company that engages in aggressive and open anti-consumer practices.