Apple expands App Store to include Game Streaming services amid EU antitrust investigation

Apple has revealed plans to expand its Apple App Store to accommodate game streaming apps and services like Xbox Cloud Gaming, GeForce NOW and Playstation Plus. Previously, users could only access these services on iOS devices through a web browser, but now developers can submit a single app capable of streaming an entire game catalog, a shift from the previous policy where each game had to be individually submitted and reviewed.

This new policy applies globally, with all experiences within an app required to follow the App Store Review Guidelines, including maintaining an age rating that matches the highest age-rated content in the app. Developers can now offer enhanced discovery features for streaming games, mini-apps, chatbots, and plug-ins, and for the first time, these can include Apple's In-App Purchase system.

This policy revision is a response to a European Commission antitrust investigation, resulting in alternative app stores and browser engines being allowed in the European Union to foster competition and consumer choice, although Apple's new policies to comply with the law are being heavily criticized for being even more predatory and anti-consumer, with measures like the new €0.50 Core Technology Fee charging developers an additional fee for each user who uses their app outside the App Store.