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This week, Apple announced it would soon allow app sideloading, and third-party app stores on iPhone and iPad in parts of Europe to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act. However, Apple unexpectedly made even more changes to its policies on a worldwide basis that will finally allow dedicated game streaming apps to be available for its mobile products.
In a post on Apple’s Developer site, it wrote:
Developers can now submit a single app with the capability to stream all of the games offered in their catalog. Apps will also be able to provide enhanced discovery opportunities for streaming games, mini-apps, mini-games, chatbots, and plug-ins that are found within their apps.
This is a pretty huge change for Apple. Previously, the company stated it would not allow streaming app stores to be available for the iPhone or iPad. This was because the company would insist that each game available from a streaming service would have to be rated as a stand-alone app.
Microsoft’s Xbox Cloud Gaming service, along with NVIDIA GeForce Now, got around this barrier by offering both services via a web browser. However, now the companies are free to create and submit dedicated apps for iPhone and iPad to Apple.
Apple also said that apps like Xbox Cloud Gaming and Nvidia GeForce Now “will need to maintain an age rating of the highest age-rated content included in the app.” That means both apps will likely get a “Rated 17+” label.
Now that this policy of banning game streaming apps on the iPhone and iPad has changed, it’s up to Microsoft, Nvidia, and other companies that offer these kinds of apps to make them and submit them to the iOS app store. There’s no word on when that will happen, but we would suspect that we could see these apps show up in the very near future.
