Excited to play games on your phones? Cloud-based gaming is ready for a big moment with the launch of Microsoft's xCloud game streaming service. It has just wrapped up its iOS beta, and September 15 has been confirmed as the launch date - along with extra rewards and features for Samsung device owners. But there’s bad news: It will not go live for the iPhone users.

Project xCloud has been able to do limited testing on iOS through the beta Xbox game streaming app, which only allowed one game - Halo: The Master Chief Collection - to be streamed on iPhones and iPads. In contrast, the whole collection of games was available to test as part of the beta on Android.

What is xCloud?

xCloud is a gaming service that will stream Xbox games to Android tablets and other smartphones for gamers. You just need to connect to the Xbox server from which a video image of the game will be transmitted to the device. You can buy the game pass offering access to plenty of games that can be played on all smartphones - except for Apple. Microsoft’s cloud gaming service is not the first one that Apple has not approved. Stadia by Google was also disapproved and is permitted only on Android.

An issue with Apple devices: Here’s what the story is!

Apple has claimed that game streaming services such as Xbox Game Pass are against the App Store policies since Apple cannot individually review each title that comes to them. The apps are reviewed against the same set of guidelines to protect customers and provide a fair space for developers. Though Apple Arcade offers access to iOS mobile games for a monthly subscription, it does not have its own game streaming service. So, it's bizarre that other game streaming services are blocked from the App Store. In fact, streaming services such as Netflix and Spotify do not undergo the same inspection on iOS, making the company’s statement odd.

In fact, because of these restrictions, the new iPhone 12 line up won’t be able to stream the game on the device. This, actually, makes other flagships such as Samsung Galaxy Note 20 and Samsung Galaxy Note 20 more viable options over Apple’s upcoming smartphones. Other devices have xCloud optimizations and come with three months of Xbox Game Pass access for free making it tough for Apple to break this advantage. The growing idea is that the purpose of this is to guard Apple’s own gaming service.

Android holds a huge advantage for users

Post-September 15, the Android phones will be able to access the xCloud game streaming, giving them a larger advantage and interest as compared with the iPhones. The future of gaming is headed towards streaming with 5G so Apple will have to reconsider its policies to maintain a loyal customer base in the market.

Microsoft has promised to bring all the first-party games to Xbox game pass, and a subscription will allow you to play them across Xbox One, Windows 10 devices, and via Xbox Series X and cloud. What this means is that once you start a game on your Xbox Series X, you pick up where you left on your Android phone. Isn’t that just amazing? Adding to this, it says that you are likely to get access to some next-generation games without buying a new console making the argument stronger of buying Android devices over an iPhone. With thousands and thousands of Android phone users, the company has a huge crowd to please and target with the Xbox game pass. And since you do not require an Xbox One to access the game pass, Microsoft is set to make its next-generation of games successful.

Apple’s approach to keeping the iOS gamers towards Apple Arcade with high-quality games is understandable, but it still doesn’t carry the same recognition of Game Pass games. In short, it seems like the right time to be an Xbox fan and an Android user. The pressure is on Apple to either step up its Apple Arcade offerings or accepts the Xbox streaming for its huge install base on iOS.