Xbox working on browser-based solution to Apple’s game streaming rules

Seems like the Xbox Game Pass could be making its way to iOS after all. Next year, in fact.

According to Business Insider, Microsoft recently held a meeting in which Xbox head Phil Spencer suggested they are aiming to get the Xbox Game Pass onto iOS devices by 2021, using a “direct browser-based solution”.

We absolutely will end up on iOS.

Microsoft launched its xCloud game streaming service last month for Android, adding it as part of the Xbox Game Pass (just not in SA yet) for no extra charge, but Apple devices were left out. This is because, according to the Apple Store’s current rules, each game in the Pass would have needed to come as a separate app, in order to ensure they met Apple’s rigorous safety standards. Also, they don’t want anything competing with Apple Arcade.

Understandably, Microsoft decided not to go that route as it would defeat the purpose of a one-stop gaming shop like the Xbox Game Pass.

However, a web app version of the Pass wouldn’t be subject to the same rules, because it would exist outside of the Apple Store and, therefore, beyond Apple’s more restrictive control. Microsoft and Apple have yet to officially comment on this whole situation.