The other day, Microsoft officially launched Xbox Game Pass Ultimate on Android. This basically allows Android gamers to stream Xbox games on their Android mobile devices, but the question remains – what about iPhone users? The good news for iPhone users is that Microsoft has not given up yet.
During an interview with CNBC in which Microsoft’s Phil Spencer spoke about the company’s decision to acquire Bethesda, Spencer also spoke about the company’s plans to bring Xbox Game Pass Ultimate to the iPhone, in which he was quoted as saying, “We’re committed to bringing Game Pass to all mobile phones out there, including Apple phones. We’ll continue the conversations and I’m sure we’ll be able to get to some resolution.”
For those unfamiliar, Apple had previously prevented game streaming services on its mobile devices. The company then recently made some changes to its App Store rules that essentially relaxed those restrictions which opened up the door to game streaming services, although Microsoft wasn’t too happy with it as it will still pretty restrictive.
Basically, Apple will allow game streaming services on its platform, but only if the titles that are offered are also listed as individual titles in the App Store. The idea is that Apple wants to make sure that the games offered through streaming services comply with Apple’s own App Store rules, and putting them up individually gives Apple a chance to review those games.
So while in theory it does allow game streaming services to run on iOS devices, it does make it incredibly troublesome for developers and could severely limit the amount of games a streaming service could offer.