Microsoft, Apple feud over xCloud got Shadow pulled from the App Store

Posted:
in General Discussion edited May 2021
Microsoft's dispute with Apple over its xCloud service had collateral damage, causing another cloud computing platform getting pulled from the App Store.

Credit: ShadowCredit: Shadow
Credit: ShadowCredit: Shadow


A series of emails revealed during the Epic Games v. Apple trial on Tuesday offer additional details about Microsoft's attempts to get xCloud onto iOS. The emails, which were exchanged in 2020, were first spotted by The Verge.

At one point during the exchange, Microsoft offered cloud gaming service Shadow as an example of an interactive app that was allowed on the App Store. Shortly after Microsoft brought Shadow to the attention of Apple, it was pulled from the store, Microsoft's Lori Wright said in testimony on Wednesday.

"We were showing two examples where a game or an application was able to exist, and we didn't understand why we couldn't. I believe [Apple] ended up pulling Shadow out of the App Store based off this email we sent until they submitted changes," Wright said. "That was not our intention of course, it was a byproduct."

Shadow as first removed from the App Store in February 2020, and later reinstated. The service was again pulled in February 2021, but made a return a week later. Shadow later attributed the second removal to a "misunderstanding."

Unlike xCloud and other cloud streaming services, Shadow doesn't just offer a library of games. Instead, it provides users cloud-based access to a full Windows 10 PC. According to Shadow, this is what allows the service to remain on the App Store.

Apple has long restricted cloud gaming services on the App Store. Specifically, the company prohibits platforms that allow users to access other app stores.

In the second half of 2020, it loosened its rules around these types of services, allowing for "catalog" apps that point toward individual App Store listings. Microsoft, which had been trying to get xCloud on iOS, said the new rules still made for a "bad experience"

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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 10
    BeatsBeats Posts: 3,073member
    I’m from the streets and that’s called snitching. Microsoft was clearly angry and wanting to pull others down with them. They could have easily said “other apps” and kept quiet. This “but that was a byproduct” excuse is BS. Microsoft was jealous of a smaller developer.

    YES, Shadow was also breaking the rules but that’s not why Microsoft brought them up. They brought them up out of jealousy and greed.
    spock1234DnykjpRfC6fnBsseanjjony0
  • Reply 2 of 10
    rob53rob53 Posts: 3,241member
    This is Apple’s store and I can’t understand why they shouldn’t be able to run it the way they want to. If any government feels they have the right to regulate it then they have to be consistent and regulate everything. I don’t see that happening. I only see them going after Apple’s money. 
    DnykjpRfC6fnBsspock1234seanjaderutterjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 3 of 10
    InspiredCodeInspiredCode Posts: 403member
    We hear “the app was removed by accident” far too often.
    Oferprismaticsjony0
  • Reply 4 of 10
    genovellegenovelle Posts: 1,480member
    rob53 said:
    This is Apple’s store and I can’t understand why they shouldn’t be able to run it the way they want to. If any government feels they have the right to regulate it then they have to be consistent and regulate everything. I don’t see that happening. I only see them going after Apple’s money. 
    I agree. They developed it to serve a business purpose not an altruistic one. 
    DnykjpRfC6fnBsjony0watto_cobra
  • Reply 5 of 10
    OferOfer Posts: 237unconfirmed, member
    We hear “the app was removed by accident” far too often.
    Agreed 100%! I’m a big fan of Apple, but these accidental removals and their seemingly arbitrary enforcement for some of their App Store policies are terrible for developers (and thus also for end-users in the long run).
    prismaticsseanj
  • Reply 6 of 10
    acejax805acejax805 Posts: 109member
    It's not called a walled garden for nothing. Perhaps we should scream for Apple to tear down its wall as much as we do America's.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 7 of 10
    rob53 said:
    This is Apple’s store and I can’t understand why they shouldn’t be able to run it the way they want to. If any government feels they have the right to regulate it then they have to be consistent and regulate everything. I don’t see that happening. I only see them going after Apple’s money. 
    Good Lord you’re right. Especially the EU. All of this money that have made.people all over the world wealthy either by stocks or being employed by a large tech company and the EU acts like Apple and Google are their private billfolds. Oh we fine Google 5 billion dollars or we try to get 13 billion from Apple for using the currents tax codes to their favor. Change the codes otherwise nothing is accomplished. I just don’t see a lot of stuff, other than niche items, coming from the EU. Although I’ll admit now I probably am wrong on that last part. Just never hear about them. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 10
    CloudTalkinCloudTalkin Posts: 916member
    Beats said:
    I’m from the streets and that’s called snitching. Microsoft was clearly angry and wanting to pull others down with them. They could have easily said “other apps” and kept quiet. This “but that was a byproduct” excuse is BS. Microsoft was jealous of a smaller developer.

    YES, Shadow was also breaking the rules but that’s not why Microsoft brought them up. They brought them up out of jealousy and greed.
    They could have mentioned no other apps at all, but that would have been pointless since their goal was to show others were doing what they weren't allowed to do.  What they could have not done (and gotten away with) is say other apps were doing something -here's the key- and not provide proof of claim.  Any lawyer, heck any 8 year old kid, would have immediately asked for proof.  With no proof, MS essentially fabricated a story.  Useless testimony.

    Another man from the streets, Alonzo Harris, famously portrayed by Denzel Washing in Training Day, said it best: "It's not what you know, it's what you can prove"  With no specific app named there'd be no proof of their claim.

    Besides it's obvious they weren't jealous of Shadow.  Shadow was a weapon, not a competitor. A weapon to be used to prove selective rules enforcement and anticompetitive behavior.  Jealousy? Nah bruh. Microsoft follows the philosophy of another from the streets, Dom Kennedy who famously said "If it don't make money, it don't make sense".  Shadow just got rolled up.  Chalk it to the game. 
    edited May 2021
  • Reply 9 of 10
    hammeroftruthhammeroftruth Posts: 1,303member
    I’m starting to think that this lawsuit was brought on to test the legal strength of Apple’s App Store. It appears that Microsoft by proxy, is one of the main figures pushing Epic to see if our legal system can break Apple’s walled garden.  

    It is ironic how Microsoft is involved since they had their own unfair monopoly back in the 90’s and now they’re crying because they don’t like it when they have to follow someone else’s rules. 

    To all who think that the government should get involved in Apple’s business, please remember what happened when they got involved in Microsoft’s business and tried to force them into changing their business model. It didn’t do anything productive for the consumer nor for the companies that were harmed by MS. 
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 10
    beowulfschmidtbeowulfschmidt Posts: 2,120member
    Beats said:
    I’m from the streets and that’s called snitching. Microsoft was clearly angry and wanting to pull others down with them. They could have easily said “other apps” and kept quiet. This “but that was a byproduct” excuse is BS. Microsoft was jealous of a smaller developer.

    YES, Shadow was also breaking the rules but that’s not why Microsoft brought them up. They brought them up out of jealousy and greed.
    This post is BS.

    Microsoft's probably aim in "outing" these apps was an attempt to show the arbitrary nature of Apple's enforcement of its own rules.  Without specific example, that attempt is pointless.
    muthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobraCloudTalkin
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