Fortnite Comes to iPhones and iPads Through Xbox Cloud Gaming

[Sophisticatednut]

What could improve is the latency between your client and the game server, if they put your virtual gaming PC in the same datacenter as the game server. But with pure streaming, there's no way to make the latency from moving your mouse to seeing the game react as low as with local play. The speed of light becomes a real limiting factor.

They'd have to put parts of the game on the client (e.g. moving the crosshairs in a FPS locally). I don't know whether that will happen, people will just get used to input lag, or precise FPS games will stay off the cloud.

This is actually a problem we have with local play as well. Because when you move your mouse and shoots a different player. Both your computers information and the random players computer across the planet must sync up and match. Instead of input lag it’s latency between what you react to and what’s precented on the screen from the servers.

 

[AppliedMicro]

Apple said cloud services are fine if each title is listed separately on the App Store to allow discovery, monetisation and parental controls to works. Streaming services thought that was too hard. That's the actual facts.

Apple requires individual App Store listing purely because $$$$$. That‘s the actual reason.

The difference is, Games are not music, movies or books. Games are interactive content; music, movies and books are passively consumed.

…so what is Shadow then, and why is it allowed on the App Store - without Apple‘s IAP?

„Unlike game streaming services, Shadow provides a full Windows 10 PC, rather than a library of games … This unique approach allows Shadow to comply with the App Store guidelines, so that you can access your Shadow PC on any iOS device to run your favorite games and software“

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/5/2...oud-ios-shadow-cloud-gaming-removal-app-store

- Books aren’t interactive content, so Apple allows reader apps without charging commission.
- Games are interactive content, so Apple demands their commission.
- What is videostreaming a full Windows 10 PC (and explicitly and prominently advertising how it can run games) as a paid service, if not interactive content?

PS: honestly, as (admittedly) mildly entertaining as it all is, that Applesplaining of their App Store rules is getting more and more ridiculous. ?

 

[Android_IOS_GUY]

Fortnite has 3 million active players.
Grand prize for one of their tournaments was $3 million!

Elden Ring is a great game, but the kids and adults alike still like Fortnite. They keep releasing new content with seasons, and other tie-ins (Spiderman stuff, I guess collaborating with the Spiderman: No Way Home film?).

All that said, I'm enjoying gaming on Apple Arcade!

samurai jack is a good game and the knock off demon slayer game is pretty good to. COD Mobile is the best(not arcade game).

 

[Android_IOS_GUY]

Not until internet infrastructure really improves. I have gigabit and can tell the input lag is there. I’m not even in to competitive gaming but I play everything at 144 or 240hz and there is a massive delay with my inputs with cloud gaming.

5g just got real! Just joking, I sure that part will be addressed. The industry is leading into that direction not just for gaming alone.

 

[jebbe]

cloud gaming will be the future.

They said the same thing about 3D and VR. Cloud gaming will never be able to provide the latency necessary for a competitive shooter compared to sitting directly in front of a game console or PC.

 

[jebbe]

No matter what people say Cloud Gaming is the future. Hardware will be a thing of the past. The fact that Apple doesn’t allow game streaming apps on their platform is the lamest thing I’ve ever seen. All because of their Apple Arcade.

If they add more games to Xbox Cloud this benefits both iOS and Mac users. Play any Xbox or PC game anytime any Mac, any iPad, etc. I don’t get why people are fussy about it. ?‍♂️

Nah, it'll go the way of floppy disks, VR, 3D and other technologies that have some form of gimmick.

 

[ackmondual]

samurai jack is a good game and the knock off demon slayer game is pretty good to. COD Mobile is the best(not arcade game).

Slightly regret getting a 64 GB capacity, although I should go ahead and use the ability to delete apps while retaining their save data.

 

[GhostRaider]

They said the same thing about 3D and VR. Cloud gaming will never be able to provide the latency necessary for a competitive shooter compared to sitting directly in front of a game console or PC.

Surprisingly the latency isn't really noticeable Well who says gaming is only for competitive?

 

[Android_IOS_GUY]

Slightly regret getting a 64 GB capacity, although I should go ahead and use the ability to delete apps while retaining their save data.

I know what you mean, I have the base 128gb iPhone and that pretty decent space. My iPad I got 256gb should have went higher. When I get the 14pro I phone I will be getting at least 512 and 1T when I get the new MacBook air. I want as much local data as possible. I don't like transferring photo's into usb drive.

 

[Android_IOS_GUY]

Surprisingly the latency isn't really noticeable Well who says gaming is only for competitive?

yeah, Mario, Zelda, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and clank, and etc were just as fun. competitive gaming is for some folks and not for everyone.

 

[jebbe]

yeah, Mario, Zelda, Spyro, Crash Bandicoot, Ratchet and clank, and etc were just as fun. competitive gaming is for some folks and not for everyone.

My point, that's why it'll never be the future. Having a small amount of people play it won't make it something for the long run. If you cannot get it to a competitive level, it won't last. That's your larger player base, people who play shooters and games that require low latency.

 

[mrat93]

You have an odd obsession with citing twitch as some kind of validation gauge. Most people don’t spend time on it. In fact in the grand scheme it has been declining.

Odd obsession? I just used it as a metric to point out that’s it’s still very much popular lol. They literally raised/made $100 million dollars at the start of this Fortnite season for Ukraine. But yeah, dead game. I never said it’s at its peak or still growing.

 

[GhostRaider]

My point, that's why it'll never be the future. Having a small amount of people play it won't make it something for the long run. If you cannot get it to a competitive level, it won't last. That's your larger player base, people who play shooters and games that require low latency.

What makes you think low latency can’t be achieved? Maybe we should not use WiFi for gaming then.

 

[Sophisticatednut]

My point, that's why it'll never be the future. Having a small amount of people play it won't make it something for the long run. If you cannot get it to a competitive level, it won't last. That's your larger player base, people who play shooters and games that require low latency.

Tell that to all the FIFA players, Minecraft players and 8 year old playing call of duty. Competitive levels are a minority of the market. And will never be a thing on phones or tablets. It’s a non issue

 

[theotherphil]

No because apple would then demand to take a 30% cut. And they said it was inconvenient to have a hundred games on the store instead of inside the streaming app

? Not if the subscription for the service is paid for outside the app.

 

[theotherphil]

Apple requires individual App Store listing purely because $$$$$. That‘s the actual reason.

…so what is Shadow then, and why is it allowed on the App Store - without Apple‘s IAP?

„Unlike game streaming services, Shadow provides a full Windows 10 PC, rather than a library of games … This unique approach allows Shadow to comply with the App Store guidelines, so that you can access your Shadow PC on any iOS device to run your favorite games and software“

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/5/2...oud-ios-shadow-cloud-gaming-removal-app-store

- Books aren’t interactive content, so Apple allows reader apps without charging commission.
- Games are interactive content, so Apple demands their commission.
- What is videostreaming a full Windows 10 PC (and explicitly and prominently advertising how it can run games) as a paid service, if not interactive content?

PS: honestly, as (admittedly) mildly entertaining as it all is, that Applesplaining of their App Store rules is getting more and more ridiculous. ?

That's all very interesting but you're missing the part where the users pays for the subscription for the service externally to Apple. Apple wouldn't collect any commission. They just don't allow stores within a store....it's been like that since day 1.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Lol, that’s not cloud gaming ?. It’s just separate online games.

But they're games running in the cloud, so by definition that's cloud gaming.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

It’s would be like saying Netflix must list all their movies and TV shows separately and not on their service app in the store because reasons

Also, even if Netflix had to show each movie separately it would still be streaming the movie through the Netflix subscription.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

This is actually a problem we have with local play as well. Because when you move your mouse and shoots a different player. Both your computers information and the random players computer across the planet must sync up and match. Instead of input lag it’s latency between what you react to and what’s precented on the screen from the servers.

Yeah but they can handle that more gracefully with local-MP. Your crosshairs move the instant you move your mouse, and lag compensation fills in the gap. The simplest version is, the server just trusts what the client thinks your bullet hit, but that may favor laggy players. Usually they want a compromise, erring on the side of disfavoring laggy players.

With streaming, you move your mouse and see your crosshairs move a little after, which puts laggy players at the biggest disadvantage possible and can be irritating for anyone.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

In theory is the key word here. But those hops are just not one hop, it's usually several as you do not have a direct connection to the server. You have to go thru local traffic, switching and be subjected to all kinds of interference.

Not all, that is true, but they all benefit from that.

It's not a stretch for whoever runs a game server to also run the virtual PCs. Maybe it's already happening in some cases. I was counting from one IP address to another as a hop, and you're describing an L2 hop, but either way the total distance traveled (and number of switches traversed etc) can be the same with streaming vs regular multiplayer.

 

[sudo-sandwich]

NONONO

Grown up games 100 years ago used to be cards, chess and backgammon.

Now grown up games are Last of Us, Lumines and Street Fighter II Turbo.

The grown up games are still cards, chess, and backgammon.

 

[Apple Fan 2008]

Not sure what are you try to convey with your pathetic capitalization and message. But the facts that Microsoft had to design Xbox On the Cloud to work in a browser as opposed to an App, and that Fortnite is the first Free to Play game in the service are direct responses to Apple policies. They both had to work around them. Making it available through a browser makes it harder for Apple to work as the solution would be to cripple Safari and the WebKit implementation on iOS.

It supposed to imitate an idiot.

 

[JCCL]

It supposed to imitate an idiot.

Right, used mostly by 13-year olds on social media. I don't know why the OP chose to use it here to state a fact, not something mentioned by trolls or idiots.

 

[jebbe]

What makes you think low latency can’t be achieved? Maybe we should not use WiFi for gaming then.

Low latency will not be achieved in cloud gaming any time soon. Even in the non-competitive games people notice the latency issues.

You're talking about being able to press a button or move a mouse, send those inputs all the way to the host computer. That host computer then take those inputs and generate all of the graphics and processing power and then output those across the internet while also converting the signal to essentially a stream(which might need to be downscaled) without any latency issues.

There are far too many limitations of the internet speed of the client, limitations of compute power and just over limitations of the hops it'll take to go back and forth in the time it takes for you to not notice latency.

Wifi has zero to do with this equation except adding an extra hop and it's own latency issues.

 

[theotherphil]

Low latency will not be achieved in cloud gaming any time soon. Even in the non-competitive games people notice the latency issues.

You're talking about being able to press a button or move a mouse, send those inputs all the way to the host computer. That host computer then take those inputs and generate all of the graphics and processing power and then output those across the internet while also converting the signal to essentially a stream(which might need to be downscaled) without any latency issues.

There are far too many limitations of the internet speed of the client, limitations of compute power and just over limitations of the hops it'll take to go back and forth in the time it takes for you to not notice latency.

Wifi has zero to do with this equation except adding an extra hop and it's own latency issues.

To be fair, we sent a crewed spaceship to the moon on the computing power of a Texas Instruments TI-81 calculator. I think you'd be surprised at what can be achieved with modern equipment.