Facebook has finally launched its iOS gaming app on the Apple app store. In order to achieve the milestone, however, it had to comply with the strict app store policies of Apple and as a result there aren’t any games in this new Facebook gaming app.
Facebook is not so happy about all of that and their spokesperson has opened up about the matter.
The Android users were already using the app and despite Facebook had shown data to Apple proving 95% activity to be users watching stream, the Cupertino-based company was not interested.
Sheryl Sandberg, the Facebook COO, talked to The Verge and said that iOS version of their gaming app is not as good as the one available to Android users.
“Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app — meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” said Sandberg. “We’re staying focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play games on Facebook every month — whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not.”
All this happens in the same backdrop that saw Microsoft withdrawing from their plans of bringing xCloud, Microsoft’s game streaming service, to iOS. The reason was again the strict App Store policies from Apple. Apple never allowed Microsoft to bring games inside their xCloud app due to which Microsoft said they can’t bring the app for iPhone and iPad users.