Apple on Friday issued new App Store rules that are likely to impact game streaming services from Microsoft and Google. And one top video game industry analyst says the move could have a notable impact on the ongoing feud between Apple and Epic Games.
The new guidelines, which come ahead of the release of iOS 14, say game streaming services (such as Microsoft’s xCloud and Google’s Stadia) are allowed on iOS devices, but that all games included in that subscription “must be downloaded directly from the App Store”.
“Streaming game services may offer a catalog app on the App Store to help users sign up for the service and find the games on the App Store, provided that the app adheres to all guidelines, including offering users the option to pay for a subscription with in-app purchase and use Sign in with Apple,” The guidelines read. “All the games included in the catalog app must link to an individual App Store product page.”
That’s problematic on a couple of fronts. Primarily, the appeal of a game-streaming service is users don’t have to download games. They’re played from a cloud server, letting you jump in from any platform almost instantly. And many of the games on, say, xCloud, won’t have an App Store product page. (Apple’s unlikely to create an iOS version of Halo Infinite, for example.)
Beyond indicating a surprising lack of understanding about how game-streaming services work, Apple’s move could have wider implications, says Michael Pachter of Wedbush Securities.
“Apple is making a mistake,” he says. “Everything they do that’s anticompetitive is an arrow in Epic’s legal quiver — and this is anticompetitive.”
The key to the anticompetitive claim is Xbox Game Pass and its upcoming inclusion of xCloud. Stadia hasn’t really found any traction with gamers so far, but Game Pass has over 10 million members, the company announced in an earnings call earlier this year. While there’s a Game Pass app, it doesn’t offer streaming – and Microsoft hasn’t formally announced plans to bring xCloud to iOS devices. But it was widely expected to do so.
Apple, says Pachter, is basically demanding a cut of subscription prices with the new regulations, as it gets with some other streaming services. (For example, sign up for a Spotify premium account via your iPhone or iPad, and Apple gets a portion of the monthly payment, says Pachter. Sign up for premium on your PC, and it doesn’t.)
The only company with an exemption to that rule is Netflix, which doesn’t offer signups on Apple devices. Microsoft, given its size, was likely negotiating with Apple to be similarly exempted.
In August, though, Microsoft made a very public stand in the legal fight between Epic and Apple, backing Epic with a statement of support, saying denial of access to Unreal Engine on Mac and iOS “will harm game creators and gamers.”
“I think this is retaliatory from Apple for that letter,” said Pachter.
Epic is accusing Apple of participating in anticompetitive practices by forcing the company to charge higher prices on App Store in-app purchases, such as for V-Bucks in Fortnite. The dispute between the two companies started in August after Epic attempted to bypass the 30% commission that Apple collects from in-app transactions in Fortnite by offering a feature that allows players to make purchases directly from the developer at a discount.
Apple, in recent weeks, has begun to fight back, filing a counterclaim against Epic alleging breach of contract and seeking unspecified reparations for money earned through the App Store. The company says Epic has earned over $600 million from the App Store to date.
By opening another front in its growing battle with game companies, though, Apple could be playing a losing round.
“Apple is consistently stepping on its own [foot],” he says. “They could have fought Epic and not booted Fortnite off the server. … Now they’re doing it to Microsoft. And Microsoft is big – as big as Apple.”
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.