"That was not our intention of course, it was a byproduct."

What you need to know

  • New information from the Apple vs Epic trial has revealed that Microsoft's row with Apple over xCloud saw another streaming platform kicked off the App Store.
  • Shadow was removed temporarily after Microsoft highlighted it in an email to Apple explaining what it wanted to do with xCloud on the App Store.

A row between Microsoft and Apple over its xCloud service on the App Store got another streaming platform removed in the process, according to testimony from Xbox's Lori Wright given at the Apple vs Epic Games trial this week.

From The Verge:

In 2020, Microsoft was battling to bring xCloud or Xbox Game Streaming to the iPhone and iPad, and the conversations had an unlikely victim: Shadow — a third-party cloud gaming app that lets you stream PC games to an iPhone or iPad.

Emails between Microsoft and Apple, revealed in the Epic v. Apple trial today, show how the Xbox maker was trying to get xCloud on iOS. Microsoft was trying to figure out how Shadow, Netflix, and other similar "interactive" apps were able to exist in the App Store while Apple was refusing to approve xCloud. Microsoft put forward Shadow as an example of such a service, only to see it suddenly removed from the store.

During the trial, Wright said that Xbox was trying to give Apple examples of what it wanted to do on the iOS App Store with its xCloud gaming service, using Shadow as an example. Wright told the court "I believe they [Apple] ended up pulling Shadow out of the App Store based off this email we sent until they submitted changes. That was not our intention of course, it was a byproduct."

As the report notes the removal was only temporary, and Shadow says it stemmed from a misunderstanding of the app's purpose. From the report:

Shadow revealed that the app was removed the second time "due to a misunderstanding" around the nature of the app. "Unlike game streaming services, Shadow provides a full Windows 10 PC, rather than a library of games," explained Luc Hancock, a community manager for Shadow. "This unique approach allows Shadow to comply with the App Store guidelines, so that you can access your Shadow PC on any iOS device to run your favorite games and software."

Microsoft recently started testing xCloud for Safari on iOS, a workaround solution to Apple's decision not to allow it on the App Store.