Shadow game streaming service has suffered due to dispute between Microsoft and Apple over xCloud
In 2020, Microsoft began a battle with Apple to place xCloud or Xbox Game Streaming on the App Store. The victim of this confrontation was the iOS application of the streaming game service Shadow, which allows you to run computer games through the cloud on an iPhone or iPad.
Correspondence between Microsoft and Apple, disclosed today in a lawsuit between Epic Games and Apple, shows how the Redmond corporation took steps to get iCloud on the App Store. Microsoft has been trying to figure out how Shadow, Netflix, and other similar content streaming apps can exist on the App Store. Immediately after Microsoft mentioned Shadow, the app was removed from Apple’s app store. According to the Redmond giant, Shadow was only mentioned as an example, and Microsoft was not interested in removing it from the App Store.
While Shadow’s removal was not final, the app was temporarily removed from the App Store twice in the past year. Apple removed it from its in-house app store for the first time in February. Then she referred to “the inability of the software to act following a certain part of the App Store Guidelines.” Shadow then returned to the app store a week later.
Shadow Cloud Computing says the app has been removed for the second time due to a misunderstanding about its works. Unlike game streaming services, the company says that Shadow provides access to a full Windows 10 PC with all its capabilities rather than a library of games. This approach allows the application to comply with App Store regulations and provide users with access to a PC on any iOS device to run any games and programs.
It’s worth adding that Valve has been fighting for over a year to launch its Steam Link game streaming service on iOS. Apple rejected the app, likely because it allowed iOS users to access a third-party software store. After that, Apple revised its rules, and in May 2019, the Steam Link became available in the App Store.
Apple continues to prevent services such as iCloud and Google Stadia from running on iOS devices. She is now pushing for companies to host all broadcast games as separate apps in the App Store and then bundle them together using a single directory app. Microsoft and Google were eventually forced to give up and launch versions of their cloud gaming services in the Safari browser.
