After having to scrap its plan to offer an iOS app due to Apple’s App Store policies, Xbox is officially moving ahead with the web-based xCloud public beta for iOS. The release comes after an early preview last year that gave a first look at xCloud running on iPhone, iPad, and more.
Microsoft wanted to offer the xCloud Game platform as an app on the App Store, but since Apple policies don’t allow app stores inside the App Store, the Redmond had to scrap its plans last year. Recently, Microsoft expressed its dismay when Apple banned Project xCloud from the App Store. Now, Apple has revised its guidelines to allow game streaming services, but Microsoft isn't pleased with the changes. How Apple Changed the App Store Guidelines. You can see how Apple changed its stance on the App Store Review Guidelines. According to Microsoft, the xCloud on iOS will act as a web-based app through Safari, and it is allowing the users to choose between a controller or touch controls for particular games. While on PCs, xCloud will act through the Edge browser and Chrome. Similarly, for Macs, the xCloud service will be supported by Microsoft Edge and Safari.
The first Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers will be able to start playing titles on iPhone, iPad, and PC tomorrow, April 20, via the web. Xbox announced the news in a blog post today (via The Verge). For now, xCloud for iOS and PC is an invite-only beta but it is a notable step forward after the early preview that Microsoft offered.
Starting tomorrow, if you’re an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscriber, you can check to see if you’ve been invited to public xCloud beta and access it for iOS and PC on Xbox’s landing page here.
Starting tomorrow, we’ll begin sending out invites to select Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to start testing the Xbox Cloud Gaming limited beta for Windows 10 PCs and Apple phones and tablets via web browsers.
While the early preview for iOS started with just Halo: The Master Chief Collection, the official public beta will feature access over 100 Xbox Game Pass titles.
The xCloud beta works with Safari, Chrome, and Edge. In testing back in February, my colleague Bradley Chambers found it truly felt like a beta with considerable lag, but found it impressive and convenient to play console games on iOS. All in all, it looks like xCloud for iOS has a lot of potential.
Microsoft says it will continue inviting Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members to the beta and open up xCloud on iOS and PC to all subscribers “in the coming months.”
While a compatible USB or Bluetooth controller is needed to play all available xCloud games, 50 titles will work with custom touch controls.
Cd key nfs carbon. The limited beta is our time to test and learn; we’ll send out more invites on a continuous basis to players in all 22 supported countries, evaluate feedback, continue to improve the experience, and add support for more devices. Pikuniku demo. Our plan is to iterate quickly and open up to all Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members in the coming months so more people have the opportunity to play Xbox in all-new ways.
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Microsoft tried to launch its xCloud game streaming service on the App Store for iPhone and iPad users, but Apple rejected the app due to its strict guidelines. Now emails revealed in the Epic vs. Apple trial on Wednesday show that Apple even removed a similar app from the App Store after its existence was mentioned by Microsoft.
Microsoft began testing xCloud for iOS in February of last year in a private beta, and things were going well until the company decided to release the app on the App Store. For those unfamiliar, xCloud offers an entire catalog of games that can be played on any device over streaming.
Apple claimed that apps like xCloud cannot offer content that hasn’t been previously approved by the company, so the app was never released to the public. Microsoft, of course, tried to argue with Apple to change the company’s decision — as we can see from the emails revealed during the trial between Epic Games and Apple.
As noted by the Verge The sentinel short story. , Microsoft pointed out that Netflix is an app that offers access to multiple content that is not individually reviewed by Apple, and yet is available on the App Store. More than that, Microsoft told Apple about an app called Shadow, which lets users access their PC game library remotely from any iOS device.
As a result, rather than negotiating, Apple quickly removed Shadow from the App Store.
Microsoft was trying to figure out how Shadow, Netflix, and other similar “interactive” apps were able to exist in the App Store while Apple was refusing to approve xCloud. Microsoft put forward Shadow as an example of such a service, only to see it suddenly removed from the store.
Apple later allowed Shadow to return to the App Store, but only because the app offers full access to a Windows PC, rather than being something specific to gaming (although the app’s main purpose was to let users play PC games on iOS). xCloud, on the other hand, had to be rebuilt as a web app to work on the iPhone and iPad.
In multiple occasions, Apple has taken a stand against apps that offer similar capabilities to the App Store and its own game service Apple Arcade. Last year, the company said that it allows streaming games on the App Store, but only if they’re submitted as individual apps. Aside from saying that it had no intention of prejudicing the Shadow app, Microsoft mentioned that Apple’s decisions related to game streaming on iOS result in a “bad experience for customers.”
This public spat has now boiled over into the courtroom battle between Epic Games and Apple, with lawyers on Epic’s side questioning Microsoft and Nvidia representatives about their struggles to bring cloud gaming apps to iOS.
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It’s hard to imagine that this will change anything in Apple’s decision not to allow xCloud and other similar services on the App Store, but this will possibly have an impact on the court’s decision as the company has been under investigation for monopoly practices.
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