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Valve's New 'Steam Link Anywhere' Service Streams PC Games to Mobile Devices, Excluding Apple's

friedmud said:
If Apple allowed this... then every game company in the world would simply release a "store" app for free on the App Store that allowed you to buy their games within it. Sure: they would have to do the charging and hosting, etc... but they could bipass the "Apple Tax".
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The difference is Steam at no point in time wants you to physically download a game to your device from Apple… They just wanted you to be able to essentially VNC access your library and have a full normal experience.

It would be easy to isolate any game companies that want the purchase to go outside but you were actually downloading the game from the App Store. That simply would be an App review thing.

This whole situation is much simpler to deal with than people are making it out to be.
Apple is only behaving this way because they want “everything”

F Apple on this one IMO
 
atomic.flip said:
How is this Apple related if we already know Apple rejected the app and the new service won’t be on Apple at all?
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The intent is to expose the draconian crap that Apple pulls. Apple's "Walled Garden" is just like China's Great Firewall. It's censorship that benefits the organization performing it, at the expense of everyone else. If we revolt enough, Apple might actually listen to their customers for the first time in nearly a decade (maybe longer?)

IDK, China is probably better at listening to its citizens and flexing to give them some of what they want than Apple.

It's kind of funny - they both set up similar systems for opposite reasons. Apple set up a wall to ensure nobody could listen to anything. China set up a wall to ensure that they could listen to everything.
 
There’s a lot that doesn’t make any sense here. The initial release was denied, yes. But Apple themselves commented right after that they’d revised the policy to allow Steam Play to work.
And PS4 Remote Play exists and works fine. You can do anything you’d normally could, including buy games.

So in this case, it almost feels old Gabe got pissed off by being denied the first time and haven’t bothered with it since.
 
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This is Valve's doing.

They presented an app to make digital purchases, which isn't allowed.

Instead of fixing it, Valve simply chose not to release it.
 
MacRumors said:



steam-logo-250x251.jpg
Valve today announced an expansion of its game-streaming app Steam Link, now named Steam Link Anywhere (via The Verge).

The original Steam Link app let users stream PC games on Steam to a mobile device within their home, but Steam Link Anywhere lets users stream games from their PC to any compatible device with internet service, excluding Apple devices.

Apple rejected the original Steam Link app due to "business conflicts," while the app went on to see a release on Android.

The upgraded Steam Link Anywhere will now only be available on Android, Raspberry Pi, and Steam Link hardware, starting today as an early beta. Valve says that players will need a good upload connection for the host computer and a good network connection for the mobile device.

Following Apple's rejection last year, Valve pointed out that there are many other remote access-style apps that are allowed in the App Store, so it was unclear why Apple was blocking Valve's app. Since that time, Sony has released its own game streaming app, allowing PS4 owners to stream and control games on their iPhone or iPad, from anywhere with a Wi-Fi connection.

Similarly, Microsoft this week has detailed work on its Project xCloud game streaming initiative. The service aims to provide Xbox owners a chance to stream their favorite games from the console to a mobile device, although iOS devices haven't been mentioned yet. "True console-quality gaming will become available on mobile devices," Microsoft CVP of Gaming Cloud, Kareem Choudhry, said. "Providing the 2 billion-plus gamers around the world a new gateway to previously console- and PC-exclusive content."

Article Link: Valve's New 'Steam Link Anywhere' Service Streams PC Games to Mobile Devices, Excluding Apple's
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It wouldn’t be able to stream games directly to a iPad from steam, would it?
 
Apple should stop holding grudges and start thinking about the consumer. No Nvidia support and deprecating open-gl when only like two developers use Metal, and now this... Steam will probably stop supporting the Mac soon since these things go both ways.
 
Looking forward to playing Apex Legends on my iPhone. If I can't win on a computer, then touch controls will definitely give me the edge. Right? Right?!??
 
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Nunyabinez said:
The reason for rejection was that the app also lets you buy your games on it without giving Apple a cut. Steam could put it on iDevices if they wanted to, by disabling the ability to buy in the app, but they correctly evaluated the size of the market and determined that it wasn't really worth their time or effort.

I question how useful this is anyway. I have a powerhouse PC and have the original Steam Link hardware that lets me play on my TV using a controller. It works great for those games that are controller oriented, but most of the really good games need a mouse and keyboard. You need a controller for your phone. I'm trying to imagine why I would want to play on my 5" screen instead of my 27" 4K monitor.

This really is an app to let you stream your game to TVs or less powerful computers that couldn't handle the actual graphics processing. The phone part is a gimmick.
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Well, you clearly outlined rhat
Nunyabinez said:
Yeah, that part sucks. They discontinued their hardware and I was lucky enough to buy two when they were closing them out.
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Happen to be selling one of them? I'll shoot $50 your way.
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Xenomorph said:
This is Valve's doing.

They presented an app to make digital purchases, which isn't allowed.

Instead of fixing it, Valve simply chose not to release it.
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This is not Valve's doing. A 30% cut for something apple never helped develop is insane.
 
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I’ve bought pc games from the iOS Steam app, without Apple taking 30% cut. Buying digital content is allowed.

Xenomorph said:
This is Valve's doing.

They presented an app to make digital purchases, which isn't allowed.

Instead of fixing it, Valve simply chose not to release it.
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Stella said:
I’ve bought pc games from the iOS Steam app, without Apple taking 30% cut. Buying digital content is allowed.
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True but the app also hasn't been updated in 2 years. People need to stop. Steam chose to not fix their Steam Link app. They could have and didn't This is ALL Steam/Valve. Stop acting like it should be Apple's fault. It's not.
 
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Apple could have removed the app as well, but they haven’t.

Apples rules are very inconsistent - we’ve seen this time and time again.

Apple aren’t innocent in this. They are at fault.

DMaki650 said:
True but the app also hasn't been updated in 2 years. People need to stop. Steam chose to not fix their Steam Link app. They could have and didn't This is ALL Steam/Valve. Stop acting like it should be Apple's fault. It's not.
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People are blaming Tim, but this has Steve Job’s fingerprints all over it. The company is like this because of Steve, not Tim. Steve was intensely stubborn with this type of crap. The culture Steve created is alive and well.
 
Tim could very easily change policy... but he hasn’t.

Not so courageous as he makes out!


_Refurbished_ said:
People are blaming Tim, but this has Steve Job’s fingerprints all over it. The company is like this because of Steve, not Tim. Steve was intensely stubborn with this type of crap. The culture Steve created is alive and well.
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DMaki650 said:
Steam chose to not fix their Steam Link app.
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Again, Valve did update it to not show the store when streaming. Turns out, like with ANY mirroring software, if you can get to a browser you can buy pretty much anything you want.

DMaki650 said:
Stop acting like it should be Apple's fault. It's not.
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I really can't parse these app store rules, but they seem inconsistent as heck:

- "On June 4, Apple posted new App Store Review Guidelines prohibiting developers of PC-mirroring apps from displaying a "store-like interface" in their apps, and to avoid providing mechanisms to browse or purchase "software not already owned or licensed by the user."". The PS4 App that Apple recently approved breaks this rule.
- "transactions taking place within mirrored software do not need to use in-app purchase, provided the transactions are processed on the host device"

So you don't need to use in-app purchases when mirroring, but you can't display a store-like interface, or show people content they don't own.

I can imagine Valve just gave up with this, so they're not free of blame, but it largely is the fault of Apple.
 
The PS4 remote play is great for causal or non FPS games. It's great to play Yakuza side missions and games while sitting on the couch and watching a show or the news. I can't see why people expect FPS games to run smooth on their iPhones? What serious gamer wants to play those kinds of games on a mobile device?

Steam Link would have been nice for letting me debug my RPG or SRPG maker games while using my TV for other content. Being able to manage resources in Cities Skyline while watching a movie would be a time saver. Steam Link, like PS4 Remote play is great for games that don't require immediate attention.
 
turbineseaplane said:
I don’t disagree that Apple should take a cut but the same 30% they take from developers who are distributing the actual software on their platform using their servers should not apply to all game sales for a major corporation who is hosting and delivering and supporting everything themselves anyhow
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It’s not even about the servers. Unless something is different here, if they are not just offering a free app to access their servers then it is served on the Apple platform. If they are using Apple custom APIs to make their service work then Apple should have the right to keep someone from competing on their own platform. Forcing Apple to support competitors actively selling on their platform is a slippery slope. Let’s say Apple spend 100 million dollars creating the next app that completely differentiates them from any other device and solves a ton of problems. Should a competitor be able to copy what they have done and instead of creating their own website or platform, have the government force Apple to allow them to use it for free.
 
rtomyj said:
If you really cared you’d switch away from Apple. These anti competitive memes are stupid. No one forces users to use Apple products. No one forces devs to use Apple Frameworks and API’s. No one forces companies to make native applications.

If you really think making a secure robust OS and an API for developers is easy. Go for it, make an ecosystem. The market can benefit with more than two mobile OS’s. My guess is you don’t know what an API is (don’t take offense, I’m not calling you stupid). Don’t let the media tell you how to think.

If Apple didn’t make a cut they wouldn’t bother improving and making new API’s/Frameworks. The talented engineers wouldn’t make money. Think now if someone came to you and said, “yea I want your service for free because I’m entitled to it”. That’s what’s going on here.
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lol

When we bought the iPhone or whatever device, then it should become our device. We should own it and be allowed to run whatever software we want on it.

Apply your logic to PC’s. Yup, it makes no sense.
 
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