Steam Link debuts on iOS and tvOS a year after Apple rejected title for violating App Stor...
A year after Apple rejected it from entering the App Store, Valve's Steam Link app is now available to stream games from user Steam libraries on Mac and PC to compatible iPhones, iPads or Apple TV devices.
Announced more than a year ago, Steam Link promised to deliver iOS and tvOS access to desktop class games through a clever software solution that streams game video to a client device while simultaneously relaying controller commands back to the host computer.
The app works with both a wired ethernet connection or a 5GHz Wi-Fi network, which is responsible for ferrying the video and game data between linked devices.
Apple initially approved Steam Link for distribution but recanted the endorsement three days later. Valve in a statement at the time said Apple cited a breach of App Store Guidelines, specifically "business conflicts with app guidelines," in revoking its approval.
Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller confirmed the move in an email to customers, saying the app "violates a number of guidelines around user generated content, in-app purchases, content codes, etc." The ability to purchase games -- through roundabout methods -- from the Steam store was thought to be among the issues at play in Apple's decision.
Schiller went on to say that Apple was working with Valve to update the app for reinstatement. Why it took the gaming company a year to facilitate the changes needed to return to the App Store is unknown.
The recent App Store addition was noted in a tweet from former Valve VR engineer Nat Brown.
Steam Link is a free 28.8MB download from the App Store.
Announced more than a year ago, Steam Link promised to deliver iOS and tvOS access to desktop class games through a clever software solution that streams game video to a client device while simultaneously relaying controller commands back to the host computer.
The app works with both a wired ethernet connection or a 5GHz Wi-Fi network, which is responsible for ferrying the video and game data between linked devices.
Apple initially approved Steam Link for distribution but recanted the endorsement three days later. Valve in a statement at the time said Apple cited a breach of App Store Guidelines, specifically "business conflicts with app guidelines," in revoking its approval.
Apple SVP of Worldwide Marketing Phil Schiller confirmed the move in an email to customers, saying the app "violates a number of guidelines around user generated content, in-app purchases, content codes, etc." The ability to purchase games -- through roundabout methods -- from the Steam store was thought to be among the issues at play in Apple's decision.
Schiller went on to say that Apple was working with Valve to update the app for reinstatement. Why it took the gaming company a year to facilitate the changes needed to return to the App Store is unknown.
The recent App Store addition was noted in a tweet from former Valve VR engineer Nat Brown.
Steam Link is a free 28.8MB download from the App Store.
Comments
Also an insult to device local processing power.
On a more serious note, I would love if Apple took gaming more seriously. But an emphasis on mobile performance will always lead to a divergence in priorities. The mobile constraints of power consumption and efficiency will always allow PC's and consoles to play games that cannot be played on mobile. I hope there is a shift in actually allowing for apple products to be powerful enough to games that are commonplace in the AAA space. Until there is a drastic upgrade in local compute power available in Apple products (and at prices that make sense), game streaming will be the only way for high-quality games to be played on Apple's platforms.
Steam Link works great. My PC and apple tv 4k are both connected to my network via ethernet so the performance is really good. You have three streaming options, fast (low latency, high fps), balanced, and beautiful (visual fidelity over responsiveness). The steam link vastly outperforms moonlight and kinoconsole if you have tried these solutions in the past. I was stunned at how playable these games are. I have a steel series Nimbus and it works fantastically. The only problem is that the R3 and L3 (push in the analog sticks) is not supported on that controller which is annoying but that is an issue with the controller and not steam link.
I tried playing Sekiro, and it plays very well. The performance is a solid 1080p 60fps. This is better than current console performance for the same game being played locally.
The first tvOS Apple TV runs on an A8 with 2 GB of RAM (iPhone 6 also used this chip, but with 1 GB of RAM). The GPU delivers 115.2 GFLOPS of 32-bit floating-point performance. The original Xbox's GPU delivered 7.3 GFLOPS. The Xbox 360's GPU can do 240 GFLOPS. So the original tvOS Apple TV has a GPU about half as powerful as the Xbox 360 and about 15 times as powerful as the original Xbox. CPU performance is a bit worse, relatively; the Xbox 360's CPU is about 3x as powerful as the A8's.
The Apple TV 4K is based on the A10X with 3 GB of RAM. The A8X had an additional CPU core (1.5x CPU performance for multithreaded tasks) and twice as many GPU cores. The A9X has 1.8x the CPU performance and 2x the GPU performance compared to the A8X. The A10X has 1.3x the CPU performance and 1.4x the GPU performance compared to the A9X. Taken together, that means the A10X CPU is 3.5 times as powerful as the A8 and the A10X GPU is 5.6 times as powerful. The A10X in the Apple TV 4K handily outperforms the Xbox 360.
While yes, desktop computers can always outperform consoles, a huge amount of gaming is done on consoles. If Apple Arcade is a sign they're getting serious about gaming on the Apple TV, it is an incredibly capable console already. They just need to improve the human interface hardware.
Mobile games are great (not really) and all but by offering console and pc quality games on their platform as well they can make people love their devices even more.
Once Apple is a regular fixture at E3, I will consider their commitment in this space cemented.
Need to enter Pin, Walk up 2 flights to Mac Pro, down 2 flights
Hit Play
1st Driver install, walk up 2 flights, down 2 flights
Hit Play
2nd Driver install, walk up 2 flights, down 2 flights
Hit Play
Identify Keyboard, walk up 2 flights, down 2 flights
That wouldn't have ended well for anyone!
APPLE at E3?!! LMAO!
Even Nintendo left that cringey, nerdy mess.
Yeah let's hope Apple attends CES too! /s