Microsoft's xCloud game streaming service is not available on Apple iOS devices. According to Apple, the reason for this is that the company requires that game software submissions be reviewed on a title-by-title basis.

In a statement to Business Insider, an Apple spokesperson claimed that the policy is intended to "protect customers and provide a fair and level playing field for developers."

It continued: "Our customers enjoy the great apps and games offered by millions of developers, and the gaming service has a set of guidelines that apply to all developers, including submitting games individually for review and appearing in charts and search absolutely start in the App Store, as long as they follow the In addition to the App Store, developers can also reach all iPhone and iPad users on the web through Safari and other browsers in the App Store.

Tim Sweeney, CEO of Epic Games, has been an outspoken critic of Apple's closed ecosystem policy, and predictably complained about the decision, saying Apple has "outlawed the metaverse."

It has been clear for some time that Apple is not keen on these streaming apps: xCloud testing hosted on iOS is severely limited compared to Android, with up to 10,000 testers being offered a single game (Halo: The Master Chief Collection) to a maximum of 10,000 testers. The Android version of the test, on the other hand, boasts over 80 games.

For the same reason, Google's Stadia streaming service was also not looked at for iOS, but has a fairly useless management app that can't actually stream; Valve's Steam Link is not a streaming service but a "LAN-based remote desktop" before appealing its rejection from the App Store on the grounds that it is a "remote desktop" and not a streaming service, ran into the same problem.

Given the slow but inevitable development of game streaming, it will be interesting to see if Apple can maintain its policy for long.