An Xbox Cloud Gaming App on iPhone Is “Impossible” for Phil Spencer, Fees Are Too High

While Apple opened the door to cloud gaming apps on its devices earlier this year, Microsoft is still waiting “impossible” to throw a Xbox Cloud Gaming native app on iPhone and iPaddue to the salty commissions imposed by the Cupertino company.

This is what Phil Spencer reported in a document sent to the CMA (the UK’s antitrust authority) regarding an investigation into mobile browsers and cloud gaming. The Microsoft Gaming boss claims that despite Apple’s openness, it is practically impossible to monetize a cloud gaming service in the face of commissions equal to 30% of the proceedsthat the company does not consider them “economically sustainable or justifiable”“.

Phil Spencer’s words

“Apple’s IAP fee is set at a level that is neither economically sustainable nor justifiable,” the document reads. “The 30% fee makes it impossible for Microsoft to effectively monetize its cloud gaming service offerings, as Guideline 3.1.3(b) prohibits it from offering iOS users different content, subscriptions, or functionality (including consumables in cross-platform games) than the content, subscriptions, and functionality offered on other platforms.”

In late January, Apple announced new rules to allow third-party developers to bring cloud gaming apps to the App Store. On paper, this should have opened the door to services like Xbox Game Pass, but apparently the steep fees imposed by the company are keeping third parties away. The CMA is conducting A market survey on mobile browsers and cloud gaming servicesto establish whether Apple and Google are using practices that may limit competition and innovation. The English antitrust is currently collecting testimonies from various actors in the sector, in view of a final judgment on the matter by the end of March 2025.