Facebook launches cloud games but complains that Apple won’t allow it on iOS
MacDailyNews Webmaster
Facebook today announced the launch of cloud games on its desktop website and Android app, but not on iOS due to what Facebook terms as Apple’s “arbitrary” policies.
“Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be living… until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white and then… ah then you hear that terrible high-pitched screamin’.” (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg)Facebook’s web and Android users can try free-to-play games in seconds without leaving the social network. Users play a game that’s streamed from Facebook’s data centers without having to first download the game onto their devices. The idea is similar to services offered by Microsoft and Google, but without the console-quality games offered by those services.
Apple’s guidelines, which the company uses to determine which apps it approves or rejects, doesn’t allow applications that act like third-party app stores. It prohibits apps that distribute software as the “main purpose” of the app and bars code that is offered “in a store or store-like interface.”
Last month, Apple adjusted its guidelines around gaming services, saying that apps could offer a subscription to multiple games, but each game needs to be approved by Apple and offered in its own app.
Apple allows software developers to bring cloud games to iOS by submitting each game to the App Store as an individual app, Apple told CNBC. Developers can also deliver cloud gaming via the Safari browser, Apple said.
MacDailyNews Take: According to the report, when Facebook users make a micro-purchase through a cloud game, 30% of revenue will go to Facebook and 70% will go to the game developers. Sounds familiar. It’s okay when Facebook charges developers 30% for using their platform, of course.
For purchases made on Android, Facebook will not take a cut and instead its 30% will go to Google. Sounds familiar. It’s okay when Google charges 30% developers for using their platform, of course.
“We would be willing to give the 30% to Apple, that is not what’s holding us up,” Rubin told CNBC. “What’s holding us up is we’re not allowed to do the things that we’re doing on Android.”
Good. Unlike those who settle for Android wannabes, iOS users value privacy and security, two things that are hardly synonymous with Facebook’s personal data leeching “service.”
Smart people who are concerned with protecting their privacy use Apple products. Certainly not Google and/or Facebook. — MacDailyNews, September 26, 2018
