While Netflix has already rolled out its Games feature for all Android subscribers, iOS users are being notably left out of the experience. That doesn’t mean Apple users are not on its radar though as developer Steve Moser has spotted code that suggests that the streaming giant is bringing Games to iPhones via the App Store, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
Apple’s App Store is known to have a myriad of strict rules including not allowing third-party apps from becoming a game hub. Gurman claims that Netflix Games is getting around this rule by doing exactly that, which is to publish each game on the App Store and have users download them individually.
If this is true, then it would mean that iOS users could only launch the games from the Netflix app, but not playable within the app itself. This method is similar to how Netflix Games work on Android devices at the moment but Gurman predicts that this will change in the near future.
Cloud gaming services such as Xbox Cloud Gaming, Nvidia GeForce Now, and Google Stadia, as well as Facebook’s gaming platform, ran into similar problems with the App Store. They worked around this by launching web apps but Netflix can’t follow this route if it wants to deliver an all-in-one experience on iOS.
For Netflix to achieve that, the company has to obtain some exceptions from Apple. It seems rather unlikely even though both companies have worked together for a long time given how they are now fighting for space in both the streaming and games market.
(Source: Mark Gurman via The Verge.)
