Apple Rejects Valve's Steam Link App Due to 'Business Conflicts'

[curtvaughan]

Ordered a OnePlus 6. Will see how Android suits me. I'm pretty sold on the Apple ecosystem, but issues I've been having with iOS lately as well as the crappy MBP make me wonder why I bother. This phone may be the leaping point I've been looking for.

You'll so regret having to put up with a headphone jack, USB-C and fast charging - so not the future, but hey, you get what you pay for! It's only half the price of the iPhone X, and you have to also put up with some feature called "gaming mode" - can't imagine why anyone would want that - and if you're feeling homesick, it even features a notch.

 

[ericwn]

lack of choice is Tim Cook's innovation of choice

Following Steve’s vision then.

 

[LovingTeddy]

If you had ever lived in China or Cuba, you probably wouldn’t be making such a boneheaded comparison.

Be honst...all the stuff he does can be done in China. i do not know if anyone here ever been in China, but you can do lots of things in China like you would do elsewhere

 

[edgonzalez32]

Any Corp is gonna protect their turf. I'd make the same decision.

Protect it from what?

 

[curtvaughan]

Where does Apple have a monopoly?

"Monopoly" doesn't quite capture it - it is a totally proprietary hardware/software manufacturer, so only Apple devices can run Apple software. They definitely have a "monopoly" on MacOS and iOS, as well as the hardware it runs on. Windows is also proprietary, but mostly only with software - any no-name PC will run it for the price of a Windows license.

 

[HiVolt]

no, its about Tim Cook's continued delusion that they can somehow deliver a "better" product and create a new revenue stream in the process.

Yeah, I'm waiting for their TV shows to tank big time, because they will only be available to Apple ecosystem devices.

 

[cube]

"Monopoly" doesn't quite capture it - it is a totally proprietary hardware/software manufacturer, so only Apple devices can run Apple software. They definitely have a "monopoly" on MacOS and iOS, as well as the hardware it runs on. Windows is also proprietary, but mostly only with software - any no-name PC will run it for the price of a Windows license.

The real monopoly is in the distribution of iOS apps.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

If that was the case then Spotify would be banned from selling subscriptions in-app. It doesnt add up yet.

Do those Spotify sales send a fat cut to Apple with each purchase?

Apparently with this Valve app, purchases could be made separately from the store- thus cutting Apple out of getting a big slice right off the top- and the visual portions of the game would stream to iOS and tvOS devices (while the actual game runs on a computer).

If both assumptions are correct, there's the difference. Apple can see Spotify as a competitor who gives them a huge commission right off the top. Valve's option here would appear to be able to bring a higher quality gaming experience to the other screens in a home without giving Apple a cut... potentially reducing some cuts of other iOS and tvOS game revenues too (as gamers may opt to choose Valve over native games) and/or motivating other game makers to adopt the very same model so they could potentially keep their (is it) 30% too (instead of giving all that money to Apple).

Besides, it's one thing to kick out an app like Spotify that has long been in the app store. It's another thing to kill an app's presence BEFORE it has a chance to get going. Killing competing music service apps now would be an even more blatant money/greed play by Apple, probably viewed far worse than this through the public eye. Blocking this app now just aggravates those in so deep they are aware of an app coming before it has arrived. Big stink now for a few days and then it fades away (perhaps with some unhappy customers opting to give up on Apple too).

 

[kdarling]

Where does Apple have a monopoly?

To answer for that poster, I'd say in only allowing apps from their own App Store.

Which means they control what competition is allowed.

Before the iPhone, Steve Jobs used to rail against carrier "orifices" with their walled gardens. Then he turned around and built an even higher wall and tighter orifice.

 

[cube]

Maybe Apple would not block this app if it only remoted Mac-hosted games.

 

[convergent]

More examples of why I separated myself from the Apple ecosystem and am much happier for it.

 

[curtvaughan]

Linux looks better every day.

Linux also suffers in the gaming department, primarily because bleeding edge games need bleeding edge hardware. Since MS is so ubiquitous with top-of-the-line PC hardware, especially with graphics, gaming software developers favor Windows as a platform. Linux generally lags a year or two in coming up with needed drivers. I wish a viable non-proprietary Linux smartphone would hit the market. Since Android is already a proprietary shell based upon Gentoo, I'd guess a more open Linux mobile system wouldn't lag far behind in hardware compatibility issues.

 

[dogslobber]

Can't have silly ole' Valve eating into those App Store profits, now...

You’re right about this which is what it’s a monopolistic practice requiring federal oversight.

 

[Anarchy99]

Following Steve’s vision then.

Kinda but the same
Steve took gambles & such which made him a visionary and spurred innovation along with things that were not always that great .

Tim Cook blindly follows that vision and thus does it incorrectly

Basically Tim Cook's copying all the bad and none of the good, if Steve only did user hostile things Apple wouldn't have been what we all loved

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

You can't sue to force a company to do something it doesn't want to do along these lines. It would be a lawsuit for some specific added functionality.

I'm not suing to make them do something. I'm suing to make them stop doing something. They intentionally go through the effort of keeping apps from being installed via any means other than the App Store (or a shortlist of other means - iTunes, Xcode, TestFlight... I think that's all.) That's not magically there - that's a consequence of code they wrote. There is code that can be removed to allow outside apps to be installed and run on it.

Apple could choose to address this by replicating the system they have on macOS - that's fine. That'd be more work. It'd be more secure than just throwing the doors open.

 

[HobeSoundDarryl]

Maybe Apple would not block this app if it only remoted Mac-hosted games.

An assumption that Apple still cares about Macs???

Just think through the money flows:

• How does Apple make money on game app sales? Does that persist with this app?
• If you are a game app dev and you see an approved way to still deliver your games AND keep the 30% too, do you shift in this same direction or do you want to keep giving away 30% right off the top?
• If you are a game player, are you more attracted to the quality of games that can run on full-power computing hardware or those limited to the horses that fit inside a "thinner, thinner, thinner", "power-sipping" mobile device platform?

And so on. Every time Apple makes a decision that seems "anti-consumer," all one has to do is think about the money. By doing X, does Apple have a likelihood to make more money? When X seems anti-consumer, does what's best for consumers trump mo'money, mo'money? Hint: after a seemingly endless number of "record quarters" can Apple leadership even remember what it's like when customers are NOT buying? All they have seen for- what- a decade+ is pretty much ANY decision they make being rewarded with record revenues every quarter. Shareholders dance. Press celebrates their genius. Execs earn their bonuses. Don't worry about a few grumpy customers, we'll make more (we always sell more).

 

[cube]

Linux also suffers in the gaming department, primarily because bleeding edge games need bleeding edge hardware. Since MS is so ubiquitous with top-of-the-line PC hardware, especially with graphics, gaming software developers favor Windows as a platform. Linux generally lags a year or two in coming up with needed drivers.

Look at the Steam stats. Linux beats Windows in the proportion of very high core count systems.
AMD and NVIDIA do not lag on the release of proprietary drivers.

What lags is the reimplementation of proprietary Direct3D. This seems to have accelerated with the availability of Vulkan, as it can now be done efficiently as a façade.

 

[wigby]

this is one of the times where a lawsuit will be for a genuine cause. how can apple approve it and brought the hopes up of the people and the company then crush it down just like that. the original review team should all get fired for being a lazy bum that doesn't do their job properly. not only did steam announced it, they even went ahead and spent money developing the tech for the app and now it got pulled.

Apple has the right to pull apps from their own app store at any time for the very reasons that Steam signed up for when they agreed to develop the iOS app. You and Steam may not like it but the legality is not in question.

 

[Regime2008]

...That would be an extremely petty decision, it would only hurt Valve financially, and Apple has no reason to care what Valve does.

If you look at Steam's hardware survey, Apple would have literally no say so in Valve's finances. If anything Valve should blackball every Apple device and platform. The publicity alone would drive sales for steam, as well as other platforms that fully support Steam.

 

[cube]

You and Steam may not like it but the legality is not in question.

The legality of the iOS App Store monopoly is in question and I think being looked at in Europe.

 

[2010mini]

Business conflict????

What does that mean? I’ve never read any where else Apple using that term for App rejection.

 

[PlainviewX]

So stupid.

 

[Ursadorable]

Steam used to be good, now it's just a dumping ground for everyone's ****** indie games. Once in a long while there's something decent, but for the most part it's a giant garbage dump with the occasional gem.

 

[ledzoe]

completely disappointed in Apple, it would have been a good use for my AppleTV, I'll have to write to Tim Cook.

 

[Winni]

Any Corp is gonna protect their turf. I'd make the same decision.

Yeah. And like everybody else who makes such decision, you would eventually be "surprised" why your customers have moved away from your artificially restricted platform. Openness has always won over closed platforms.