Emails emerge between Microsoft and Apple detailing what Xbox was willing to do before launching xCloud.
Xbox exclusives on the App Store? Microsoft and Apple were close to an agreement
The emails emerge as part of the dispute between Epic Games and Apple, and also involve Microsoft. The latter would have sought agreements with Cupertino for make Xbox games available on the App Store. Apple revisited its guidelines just last year, facilitating the landing of third-party companies on its digital store. However, Apple’s project only concerned downloadable content, which had met with the disapproval of Microsoft, which proposed alternative solutions, more similar to the cloud gaming.
The endgadget and TheVerge portals report that the emails involve an exchange of messages between Lori Wright, Xbox head of industrial development, and the upper floors of Cupertino. Wright would have proposed to Apple to include the Game Pass app on its store, so that users could play in streaming, without having to download every single game. Microsoft would thus have proposed to bring the numerous Xbox exclusives to iOS (just think of Halo).
Engadget also reports a textual passage from Lori Wright’s email:
“This would be an incredibly exciting opportunity for iOS users to access these exclusive AAA titles in addition to Game Pass games”
A tempting proposition, especially for Xbox game lovers, which, however, has not been favorably received by Apple. According to TheVerge, Cupertino would have criticized Microsoft’s willingness to include in-game purchases. Hypothesis denied by the same house that owns Xbox, which instead stated that the agreement did not end due to Apple’s reluctance to include a single app – Game Pass – for streaming video games on its store.
Microsoft eventually opted to develop the xCloud, to allow iOS users access to play via Safari. However, Kareem Choudhry, the CVP of Xbox Cloud Gaming he told The Verge that the company “will continue to seek workable resolutions that will allow its games to land on the App Store.”