Facebook Brings Cloud Games to iPhone, iPad Via Web App

Starting Friday, Facebook will bring its nascent cloud gaming service to iPhones and iPads through a web app that people can add to their homescreens as a native app. The site will allow you to play simple web games like Solitaire and match-three and stream more graphic titles like racing games.

But thanks to Apple’s rules, it’s unclear how people will find it, as third-party developers like Facebook don’t have the right to direct users of their apps to websites that offer buying mechanisms that don’t. not owned by Apple. It’s a huge sticking point not only with Facebook, but with other game companies like Epic who have strongly protested against Apple’s grip on iOS payments. Facebook’s web game library, which includes HTML5-based games as well as more advanced titles streamed directly from the cloud, uses the social network’s personalized payment system called Facebook Pay to accept in-game purchases.

Facebook’s decision to bring its gaming platform to iOS via the web mimics the approach of Amazon and Microsoft, who have also released Progressive Web Apps, or PWAs, for their respective cloud gaming services in order to to bypass the App Store. Facebook complained loudly last year when Apple blocked its attempt to put games in a standalone app for iOS and said it would look for alternatives. Shortly after that, Apple changed its rules to allow cloud-based games as long as they were submitted individually as apps to the App Store for review – a policy that Microsoft and others say did not meet their desire to publish their own game showcases. on iOS.

Facebook

“We came to the same conclusion as the others: web apps are currently the only option for streaming cloud games on iOS,” said Vivek Sharma, vice president of games at Facebook. The edge in a report. As many have pointed out, Apple’s policy of ‘allowing’ cloud gaming on the App Store doesn’t do much at all. Apple’s requirement that every cloud game has its own page, review and appear in search lists defeats the purpose of cloud gaming. These obstacles prevent players from discovering new games, playing on multiple devices, and instantly accessing games from the cloud. high quality in native iOS apps, even for those who don’t use the latest and most expensive devices.

Facebook is not yet a major player in the game, as it has mainly focused on the courtesy of streamers to deliver their gameplay for fans to watch. But last year, it acquired a cloud gaming startup and released a handful of free titles like Asphalt 9. It has since made its service available in more regions, added other titles like Assassin’s Creed: Rebellion, and said 1.5 million people play its cloud games per month.

While Facebook has finally come up with a solution to getting its cloud games to iOS, there are still big limitations imposed by Apple’s Safari browser on web games. Sound is off by default, games can’t send push notifications, and graphics aren’t as powerful as they can be in native apps. And then there is the problem of discovery.

A Facebook spokesperson declined to comment on its growth plans for the games website, but Apple’s rules state that developers cannot send users from a native app to a website with a payment technology other than his own. The developers of the Facebook game features could do their own marketing, but those efforts would be petty compared to the traffic the main Facebook app could send.

Facebook’s cloud games are currently available in the United States and parts of Canada and Mexico, while HTML games are accessible elsewhere as cloud games are slowly being introduced in more regions.