They are releasing this in a browser, why can't they support Edge/Safari on macOS?
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Microsoft xCloud Beta for iPhone and iPad to Launch This Week [Updated]
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Apple Arcade - individual apps which is all Apple asked for is for individual games to show up in the store.
Individual games made no sense. Apple knew that as well. Individual games on the App Store would negate the need for Game Pass altogether.
No it won't. You can still authenticate with your Microsoft account and have access to the game for "free". That is the benefit of game pass is for a monthly cost, you get dozens of games. Game pass on Xbox and PC I still need to download the select games individually, I don't download a 2 TB file and have EVERY game available.
it is amazing especially when combined with gamepass
So now Apple won’t get their 30% cut and will have no way of approving/rejecting games. What was their thinking again? I think this was a win for Microsoft in the end.
yep sometimes Apple makes me SMH.. they claim it was about reviewing and ratings yet we get Hulu, Netflix, Amazon, etc apps that have subscription content. I thought Apple was more liberal. I guess they have a bone with Microsoft.
Yes, yes it would. The benefit of GamePass, especially on mobile, is all the games live in one place... just like Apple Arcade. GamePass for mobile doesn't work the same way it does for XBox and PC. GamePass on mobile requires no download at all except the GamePass app. The games reside on, and are streamed from MS servers. They don't run on the the phones or the tablets processors. Remember, this is Cloud Gaming with XBox Game Pass. It's already live on Android and the iOS beta will operate the same way it does on Android... 'cept via browser instead of directly from an app.
I have GamePass Ultimate. When I play on my XBox or PC I download the game I want to play. When I play mobile, I literally find the game I want and tap the play button and start. Individual app containers for each game make no sense at all.
Xbox Game Pass is the best bang for your buck gaming subscription out there, hands down.
Now that we’re fully vaccinated and traveling more, I’m looking forward to bringing my 12.9” iPad Pro and my Xbox controller with me the next time we’re at my mother-in-laws.
Now that we’re fully vaccinated and traveling more, I’m looking forward to bringing my 12.9” iPad Pro and my Xbox controller with me the next time we’re at my mother-in-laws.
Apple changed the rules to allow game streaming with the condition that each game must use a separate app and submitted for review. This was doable but not convenient for MS and Google Stadia. So Apple updated iOS 14 few months ago with gamepad API to allow game controllers use through Safari. Basically Apple provided MS, Google Stadia, and others with the tools to have their streaming service work through Safari.
I can understand Apple concerns with regard to the App Store single app streaming approach. If you can stream games then what prevent developers from streaming apps and thus having an App acting as an App Store in iOS without Apple oversight.
Other than the 720p current limitation xCloud looks good. Their library is much better that Stadia, which I am currently using and find to work great at 1080 on my TV.
Lol, Microsoft is totally hardware-agnostic now. They don't even make Xbox exclusive games anymore, as a result.
If anything, they lose money on Xbox sales; someone who pays the subscription and plays from a Mac/iPhone makes them more money.
Nope, not how it works.
If every game had to be its own app Microsoft would run into yet more issues with Apple's rules. First and foremost, apps must have some functionality without having to sign-up for a paid account. Two, which is more of a technical issue, it means that every single game you play would have to install the exact same app over and over again. Third: Apple doesn't really provide any way to make it easy to find games that would fall within the Game Pass subscription within the App Store. Discoverability goes down the drain, and let that be one of the major sellingpoints for Game Pass.
With Apple's current rules, there is no way for Microsoft to bring Game Pass to the App Store.
I use game pass every single day, I know how it works. I wanted to play Halo, I needed to download the Master Chief Collection INDIVIDUALLY, I wanted to play Classic DOOM, I had to download that individually, I wanted to play Medium, I had to download that individually. I wanted to play Alien Isolation, guess what I had to download that individually. And I had those icons on my desktop on PC and individually selectable on Xbox. This isn't like the Namco collection where you just launch one "game" and see a browser of games to play.
So they are already individual apps. I can uninstall Halo but keep Medium installed.
On what kind of hardware do you use game pass? Because:
a) On a mobile device it should only stream the games (just like NetFlix streams content). And that is the topic here. Also it is impossible to install a game like Halo on an iPhone or iPad.
b) On other devices (XBox, windows PC etc.) it will indeed download and install the individual games.
There is quite a difference in scenario A or B. Obviously the other posters are referring to scenario A as per the title of this thread. Are you too?
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The ratings excuse was laughable. Have they seen what is available through a Safari browser? Makes GTA look like PBS.
GamePass is brilliant, best deal in gaming. I even bought an Android(!) tablet to try out xCloud, worked pretty flawlessly. I hope the iPad experience can match it.
You obviously don't know how it works on mobile. The example you're using doesn't apply here. As I said earlier. You don't download games on mobile. You only stream. This is exactly what you say it isn't. You only launch one game: the GamePass app and you see a browser of games to play. Trying to make an argument for/against mobile using console functionality makes no sense since they operate completely differently.
Read my original post. This started because I agree with Apple’s limitations to have each game be it’s own app. And this is EXACTLY how it works on PC and Xbox. I don’t have the games streamed. I have 80GB taken up by Master Chief Collection alone. I can play it without internet. It’s an individual game on Xbox and PC. Which is all Apple asked for.
Again, read my original comment on the discussion. I simply agreed that Apple’s decision to require apps to be individual on the App Store and it would be identical to how it works on PC and Xbox. And the apps on iOS can just be web wrappers for that specific game. So it’s still a small app unique to that game and it still streams it.
We know what Apple asked for. We also know why. Also we know it isn't what customers want on mobile... which is what the topic is about: mobile. Regardless, mobile iOS users will be able to go through a browser to get the same basic functionality that the app would have brought: one touch play with no need to download games. Less elegant, less user friendly, but same basic functionality through the browser.
That simple agreement has a mountain of complexity behind it which makes it not viable for M$.
The games must be streamed over video as many of those games them require proprietary DirectX and other higher-order graphics libraries. (Cannot be done at scale and affordability by adding an OpenGL, legacy GDI, Metal, interoperability layers)
The games cannot be locally installed due to the limitations of iOS + M$ not wanting to support DirectX, like Apple doesn’t support Metal on Windows etc.
Unless I’m misunderstanding your point?
The app would just be unique to that game - just a web wrapper. It will NOT be the full game on the app, just a wrapper to authenticate with your Microsoft account and then stream just that one game.
