Apple rejects Steam Link app, citing "business conflicts"

[D13H4RD]

A gaming Mac wouldn't be a success anyway. 

 

Mainly due to the limited games library that macOS supports. Yeah, you can get Steam on a Mac, but the number of macOS-optimized titles is limited compared to Windows and while you can always use Boot Camp to load Windows, that's not really the message Apple would to want to send ("We made a Mac that's specifically for gamers but you need to load a rival OS to play most of the games you want). 

 

Couple that with how many PC gamers tend to be enthusiasts and those people wouldn't really consider a Mac for gaming and only considers one for a specific purpose. 

[Qwertious]

I do agree that Mac gaming won’t be a thing anytime soon but let’s not forget the main topic here gaming Mac or not.

 

You still have acesss to steam inhome streaming on macOS. 

 

 

[D13H4RD]

31 minutes ago, Qwertious said:

I do agree that Mac gaming won’t be a thing anytime soon but let’s not forget the main topic here gaming Mac or not.

 

You still have acesss to steam inhome streaming on macOS. 

 

 

Yeah, I sometimes use that on my 2009 MBP

[unsubscribed]

I would say it's simply due to the fact that with this app there is a potential to 'overuse' Apple device. We all know gamers can be stuck on this for hours at a time.

This can expose flaws in software, design, reliability etc. Not to mention make the device operate way over what Apple thought it would be used for.

[vanished]

I really would like to know what their reasoning is for this.  I'm sure that what they're saying is true - that it somehow conflicts with or will hurt their business - but I can't imagine how.  To the best of my knowledge, this app wouldn't render their other products less desirable, and I highly doubt they have anything that would compete with it in the works.  I guess we'll just have to wait and see... hopefully the truth comes out soon... I am very curious.

[Sauron]

5 hours ago, D13H4RD2L1V3 said:

why is Splashtop, an app that mirrors the display of a PC running Windows or macOS and then streaming it onto a device, on the store for a long time already? 

Probably because splashtop isn't as good for games, which macs are notoriously bad for.

3 hours ago, Sniperfox47 said:

The only thing really not allowed directly is Vulkan.

Which happens to be the only one that matters. Either way what really hurts mac game libraries is the relative rarity of the operating system (much like linux) and the underpowered hardware (for the price).

3 hours ago, Salv8 (sam) said:

a gaming mac would be some much of a commercial failure that it would rival the apple newton!

You're thinking of the pippin...

[blu4]

7 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Apple is not a bunch of dummies, there's a reason they are the most valuable company in the world, they know what they are doing. I'm sure they understand what it is.

The reason they are successful is because they appeal to the non-tech side of consumers- which there is a LOT.

[themctipers]

hopefully they release a precompiled IPA for us to be able to sideload

 

and it doesn't require iOS 11.

[Misanthrope]

21 hours ago, Max_Settings said:

Either this is Apple being assholes like always, or Apple is planning to come out with some sort of gaming system or gaming Mac. I would guess the former.

The iphone is already a gaming system. In fact in total revenue for the games on their store I wouldn't be surprised if it's the most successful device in which games are played.

[Shotty14]

I was truly looking forward to the release of this App. As a Apple user/fan (not fanboy) this is pretty upsetting.

[YellowJersey]

A dick move by apple, but can anyone honestly say they're surprised?

I know that's no justification, but expecting apple to be a team player at this point  is just silly.

[Humbug]

I see why Apple could have a problem with. Suprisied they approved it before, maybe they didn't think it through.

 

There is no point comparing it to team viewer. Sure the IOS end of the app may be like a more advanced version of team viewer. But the desktop end of steam which streams the content from PC has a fully integrated game store! That means people could play PC games on their IOS device. Which means they spend less money on buying native IOS games on the app store and less money for Apple. They don't like this kind of open ecosystem with competing storefronts.

 

Also Steam is very much cross platform. So you could stream your games running natively on windows steam or Linux steam to your IOS device. They probably don't like that and would prefer if it was restricted to mac OSX steam because that at least strengthens their ecosystem.

[suicidalfranco]

sad really cause it's an amazing app. Been playing Warframe for the past two days on my V10 while in bed.

wish there was an easy way to play games that require M&K. Would allow me to spend more time with path of exile and they are billions

 

EDIT

[Humbug]

3 hours ago, suicidalfranco said:

sad really cause it's an amazing app. Been playing Warframe for the past two days on my V10 while in bed.

Bingo. This is exactly what Apple does not want their users to do.

 

Cause it makes you less likely to spend money on the mobile games via the app store.

[suicidalfranco]

1 hour ago, Humbug said:

Bingo. This is exactly what Apple does not want their users to do.

 

Cause it makes you less likely to spend money on the mobile games via the app store.

how does playing PC games stop people playing candy crush?

plus majority of iPhone owners probably have macs so streaming high quality games was never an option to begin with.

And even if they did then why leave the likes of moonlight untouched?

[TechyBen]

On 25/05/2018 at 2:49 AM, Syntaxvgm said:

TV is not suitable for gaming though, I think it's the gaming specifically? 

I have used standard streaming apps (though on Android, and was Splashtop) for gaming just fine.

 

It would be because the back end Steam on desktop has a store integrated, and the App does not have a (Apple Taxable) store integrated. Steam would be unable to fulfill both these obligations (take the store out of the desktop, and add store to the App).

[Humbug]

12 minutes ago, suicidalfranco said:

how does playing PC games stop people playing candy crush?

plus majority of iPhone owners

Who said it would stop them?

 

It's just one factor in a complicated market place. It's not going to stop people, but it has a small impact alongside a hundred other factors, and it has the potential for more impact in future, apple knows that.

 

 

[Nup]

Could also be an issue with the steam store being part of their system and Apple taking monetary cut. 

[TechyBen]

I agree, but it's less "this could be a tiny competitor/money loss", and more "we cannot even allow a tiny wedge of allowance, for fear we lose it all some day".

 

If Apple allow freedom, then people will want freedom.

[Jito463]

Yet one more reason I'm glad I use Android instead of iOS.  Apple is far too restrictive of what you can do with their products.

[Sniperfox47]

9 hours ago, Humbug said:

I see why Apple could have a problem with. Suprisied they approved it before, maybe they didn't think it through.

 

There is no point comparing it to team viewer. Sure the IOS end of the app may be like a more advanced version of team viewer. But the desktop end of steam which streams the content from PC has a fully integrated game store! That means people could play PC games on their IOS device. Which means they spend less money on buying native IOS games on the app store and less money for Apple. They don't like this kind of open ecosystem with competing storefronts.

 

Also Steam is very much cross platform. So you could stream your games running natively on windows steam or Linux steam to your IOS device. They probably don't like that and would prefer if it was restricted to mac OSX steam because that at least strengthens their ecosystem.

Except all of the stuff you're complaining about is the entire point of Moonlight.

 

You're also talking about entirely separate market demographics. It's not like the people who are using this sitting in bed would be playing Candy crush in bed otherwise. You're talking about a second screen experience for an already existing device. This doesn't replace gameplay from the App(le) Store, but rather it replaces the 5 seconds of work to get off your ass and go to your computer.

[Humbug]

38 minutes ago, Sniperfox47 said:

Except all of the stuff you're complaining about is the entire point of Moonlight.

(1) I am not complaining. I would prefer that the app is allowed, even though I am not an apple user.

(2) I don't know why Moonlight is allowed. Could be any number of reasons. Maybe they didn't think it through as much (like the way they did not think it though when they initially said they would allow Steam). Or maybe because Moonlight it not as big as steam, who knows...

 

38 minutes ago, Sniperfox47 said:

You're also talking about entirely separate market demographics.

Demographics always overlap to an extent. I know hardcore PC gamers who play games on their iphones too. The real world is not black and white.

 

Sometimes people don't want to be at their PCs. they just want to play a game on their phone in another part of their house.

 

38 minutes ago, Sniperfox47 said:

This doesn't replace gameplay from the App(le) Store, but rather it replaces the 5 seconds of work to get off your ass and go to your computer.

If you want to play a game on your phone rather than sitting at your PC this app enables another option to do that by streaming from your computer rather than getting it from the app store. Thereby it competes with the app store.

 

Obviously Apple knows this will not totally 'replace' anything. They have simply decided this may have a small impact by introducing a bit of competition which could get a bit bigger in the future, so they would rather not have it..

[Syntaxvgm]

5 hours ago, TechyBen said:

I have used standard streaming apps (though on Android, and was Splashtop) for gaming just fine.

 

It would be because the back end Steam on desktop has a store integrated, and the App does not have a (Apple Taxable) store integrated. Steam would be unable to fulfill both these obligations (take the store out of the desktop, and add store to the App).

splashtop is much faster than teamviewer, but the encoding on the pc side is still much slower. Doesn't take advantage of gpu 

[DrMacintosh]

 

[Sniperfox47]

16 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

~snip~

So yeah it's basically about the app being a remote desktop app...

 

Apple is almost as inconsistent with how they apply their app guidelines as Valve is about theirs.

 

When stuff like this happens it makes me seriously question why people defend Apple, or in specific iOS. With Windows? Wouldn't be an issue because you just install it or sideload it if it's UWP. With Android? Wouldn't be an issue because you can install it from a 3rd party store or sideload it. Heck even with MacOS wouldn't be an issue because you can just sideload it.

 

iOS is the only major platform out there where the platform's owner goes out of their way to prevent their users from getting applications they might want. I mean that's one of the major reasons everyone's been getting so butthurt over UWP, and even it's not as bad as iOS.