One of the more interesting aspects of game streaming platforms has been their potential to enable mobile gaming of AAA quality titles, however, if that's the kind of thing that interests you, then you might want to stay away from iPhone and switch to Android instead.
This is because Apple, in their infinite wisdom, has decided to ban game streaming platforms from iOS devices, with the company stating they won't allow Microsoft's xCloud streaming service on their store, despite the service already going through tests.
The reason, according to Apple, is that for the app to be approved, every game on the service would also require review - and presumably, any game that fails Apple's validation process would mean the entire app would be removed from the App Store.
Apple claims the move is to "protect customers and provide a fair and level playing field to developers."
It seems blatantly anti-competitive to me, however. Epic's Tim Sweeney agrees and took to Twitter to voice his concerns over the decision.
Apple has outlawed the metaverse.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) August 6, 2020
The principle they state, taken literally, would rule out all cross-platform ecosystems and games with user created modes: not just XCloud, Stadia, and GeForce NOW, but also Fortnite, Minecraft, and Roblox. https://t.co/OAGC7cXfSl
Google's Stadia service has been met with similar issues and is also unavailable on iOS. It seems like a short-sighted move by Apple, however. Game Streaming appears to be the future of mobile gaming, if not gaming as a whole, and by excluding third party companies, especially ones as big as Microsoft and Google, it'll be left out in the cold compared to Android.
Microsoft's xCloud service is launching on the 15th of September on Android.