Support NeoGAF

[Lunatic_Gamer]

Speaking as part of a new UK CMA investigation into the whole ordeal — which has been going on for months by the way — the Xbox owner says that despite moves from Apple to open things up, it's still "impossible for Microsoft to effectively monetize its cloud gaming service offering".

"Apple’s IAP commission fee is set at a level that is neither economically sustainable nor justifiable. The 30% commission fee makes it impossible for Microsoft to effectively monetize its cloud gaming service offering, given that Guideline 3.1.3(b) prevents different content, subscriptions or features (including consumables in multi platform games) being offered to iOS users (as compared to the content, subscriptions and features offered on other platforms)."

This whole CMA 'Mobile Browsers and Cloud Gaming' investigation has set a deadline this month for all involved parties to respond, before decisions will be made about potential policy changes in the coming months. We'll have to wait and see if Microsoft's push for Apple to be more flexible with its storefront is a successful one.

In the meantime, Microsoft is still developing its own mobile storefront to rival Apple and Google - something it will be keen to progress with given its ongoing gripes with the iPhone maker. The last we heard on that, was that Microsoft is still internally testing the storefront before rolling it out to the public.

Microsoft Says Native Xbox Cloud Gaming App Remains 'Impossible' On Apple Devices

"The 30 percent commission fee makes it impossible"

www.purexbox.com

 

[Dacvak]

I just use the web app and it works just fine.

That is to say it’s still kind of ass, but xCloud is ass on every device I’ve ever used.

 

[Trelane]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, but 70% is more than 0%.

 

[Magic Carpet]

Sorry Xbox, I just use the Netflix games on my iPhone instead. The new Minesweeper is pretty good.

 

[Skifi28]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, but 70% is more than 0%.

But that 30% is money Apple will use to try and reduce Xbox's survival on the market. Or something.

 

[Ozriel]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, but 70% is more than 0%.

Nobody’s going to hand over a 30% cut for Apple essentially providing nothing, aside from hosting a stub app.

The alternative would be to hike fees up for iOS users to cover the fee.

 

[Katatonic]

MS really fucked up focusing on keeping Sony out of the living room and not on mobile during that time.

 

[ManaByte]

MS really fucked up focusing on keeping Sony out of the living room and not on mobile during that time.

What does that have to do with Apple's policies?

 

[ChorizoPicozo]

Blame everyone else for your failures except yourself

The Phil Spencer/Xbox/MS motto.

 

[mayham2199]

Nobody’s going to hand over a 30% cut for Apple essentially providing nothing, aside from hosting a stub app.

The alternative would be to hike fees up for iOS users to cover the fee.

Apple is providing access to their userbase that they've built up over time. This is no different than what consoles including Xbox do.

 

[RetroGamingUK]

MS really fucked up focusing on keeping Sony out of the living room and not on mobile during that time.

Didn’t they lead the smartphone OS market when iPhone came out?

 

[KungFucius]

I'm not an Apple fanboy, but 70% is more than 0%.

Not really. It is 70% minus overhead and any dev costs. It is a lower return on investment which could make other options more attractive like getting the app on more TVs and streaming sticks.

 

[IntentionalPun]

Nobody’s going to hand over a 30% cut for Apple essentially providing nothing, aside from hosting a stub app.

The alternative would be to hike fees up for iOS users to cover the fee.

Most video streaming services do in fact hand over Apple 30% when subbed via the app.

That’s not even what their complaint seems to be about.

They are talking about in app purchases not being feasible for them to handle how Apple would expect it seems mostly.

Apple collecting 30% of every mictotransction bought while streaming would just sort of destroy their model. That’s likely more than MS takes from some 3rd parties.

 

[Katatonic]

What does that have to do with Apple's policies?

MS would be the one's charging at least 30%?

 

[I Love Rock 'n' Roll]

And that's great! There's a MS phone for that... right?!?

 

[MarkMe2525]

I think what is getting missed is the fact that Apple wants 30% of micro transactions made while streaming. So when you purchase a $10 cosmetic, MS would take their $3 and immediately have to hand it to Apple, this leaves MS with $0. This leaves MS footing the cost of marketing, game availability costs, server costs and Apple would get almost all of the income.

Edit: I see that IntentionalPun brought this up a couple posts above me.

 

[DoubleClutch]

Blame Apple for this.

 

[FoxMcChief]

Apple is usually in the wrong when it comes to everything.

The streaming works fine using a browser though. I’ve completed a few games playing 100% on my iPhone using the browser and my Backbone controller.

 

[Topher]

And this is the exact same reason why Game Pass will never be on PlayStation or Switch.

 

[blastprocessor]

I don't get the issue if you're buying your sub on their Microsoft website? Surely Netflix are not paying Apple 30% when l subscribe to their service via their site?

 

[LordCBH]

The current implementation of xCloud on iOS works great. But MS just wants more money from their piggies, I know how it works.

 

[IntentionalPun]

I don't get the issue if you're buying your sub on their Microsoft website? Surely Netflix are not paying Apple 30% when l subscribe to their service via their site?

Netflix doesn't sell 3rd party microtransactions for the movies you watch, that Apple wants a cut of if you pay for them while using iOS.

Beyond that, Apple has had other gaming specific rules for streaming services, like the idea that each individual game would also need to be available for sale via the store. You can't make a 1:1 comparison with video streaming.]

edit: Actually re-reading this.. the other issue is that IIRC they don't actually sell microtransactions via xCloud at all, and they actually would have to do that in iOS if they launched an actual app. Apple doesn't allow games to have MT's that aren't available for sale w/i iOS.

 

[ReBurn]

I wonder why Microsoft can't do a cloud streaming app because Apple wants a cut but I can pay Google on the side for a YouTube subscription that's cheaper than subscribing through the Apple App Store and stream all of the ad-free YouTube video I want?

I also wonder why Apple doesn't care that I can remote play games on my Xbox via the Xbox app on iOS and stream the same games that would be available via Xcloud?

 

[nowhat]

Didn’t they lead the smartphone OS market when iPhone came out?

Fuck no. It was mostly Symbian (i.e. Nokia) at the time. That didn't last long though. Spec-wise the first iPhone barely categorized as a smart phone, but the advantages in UX were undeniable. The rest, as they say, is history.

 

[LordCBH]

I wonder why Microsoft can't do a cloud streaming app because Apple wants a cut but I can pay Google on the side for a YouTube subscription that's cheaper than subscribing through the Apple App Store and stream all of the ad-free YouTube video I want?

I also wonder why Apple doesn't care that I can remote play games on my Xbox via the Xbox app on iOS and stream the same games that would be available via Xcloud?

Really nothing is stopping purchases from being possible in the webapp version of xCloud that iOS uses. Companies don’t pay a fee when people pay for things using Safari (because that would be absurd.).

 

[dottme]

They can even teach people how to create a shortcut on the Home Screen. They should focus on the web app.