Netflix’s games will need to respect Apple’s App Store policies that stop a third-party app from becoming a centre for games.
HIGHLIGHTS
- Netflix may be planning to release its new games on iOS through the App Store.
- These games will need to be downloaded and opened separately.
- Netflix last week announced five games for Android users.
Netflix now lets you play games in the app, but this feature is only available to Android users at the moment. In an announcement last week, Netflix said the global rollout of at least five games has begun for Android phones and tablets, but an iOS version would arrive later. Now, a new report has said that Netflix Games on iOS will be made available through the App Store, which means the native Netflix app for iOS will not integrate games like its Android counterpart has.
Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman has noted in his newsletter Power On that Apple’s App Store policies stop Netflix from providing games inside its video streaming app on the iPhone and iPad. Apple’s policies for App Store apps restrict a third-party app from offering games as a part of the experience. And this is also what has put Apple in controversial positions against its stance on cloud gaming services such as Google Stadia, Nvidia GeForce Now, Microsoft Xbox Cloud Gaming (xCloud).
The only way to offer games inside an iOS app that is not a dedicated game is through a web app, which is what Facebook has resorted to as it offers a wide range of games to its iOS app users. Apple’s own Arcade service, too, requires users to download a game and then play it, but with a subscription bundle – something Netflix is beginning to experiment with its new games. But Netflix is reportedly planning to circumvent the restriction by offering individual games through the App Store. Since the games are a part of the subscription, users will not be charged anything – meaning no extra revenue for Apple.
Netflix Games will be available through downloadable apps on your iPhone, according to Gurman. This is similar to how these games are available on Android, where you have to download them individually from the Google Play Store, but you can access them from inside Netflix’s main app through a dedicated tab.
This is not the ideal setup for what Netflix is dreaming of turning its services into. It wants users to be able to play games from where they are watching a show or movie on the Netflix app. Gurman, therefore, has made the prediction that the streaming giant will eventually bring all its games to the cloud in what could be Netflix’s cloud gaming service. Cloud gaming works perfectly fine on Android, but that would again be an issue for iOS, where Apple’s strict App Store policies have made it impossible for companies like Google and Nvidia to make a breakthrough. The only option left for Netflix then would be to offer its cloud-powered games through the Safari browser.
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