14 DAY TRIAL // Apple has modified the App Store guidelines in a way that would technically allow Valve’s Steam Link to be made available for iOS.
The information that Apple has denied the publishing of the new Steam Link in the App Store took everyone by surprise, especially since Valve announced that it’s going to be available on iOS. Very little is known about the real motives, but it’s easy to infer from what we already know about the company and its politics.
First of all, Steam Link is an app from Valve that allows users to remotely access and play games from another platform, such as a PC or even a Mac. It acts more like a portal to the full Steam application that runs, and not as a full Steam client on the phone.
Changes are coming
Apple must have realized or must have been convinced that the landscape is changing. Rules that applied five years ago are no longer relevant. Services such as Steam and its mobile apps simply no longer fit, so Apple had to change.
The idea was that Apple doesn’t let any apps through its gates if it comes with its own store. Technically, that’s true for Steam, but according to a Reuters report, the new guidelines allow people make purchases if that purchase happens remotely, and not on the device itself.
The new rules make all the difference, and it’s very likely that Steam Link will be resubmitted soon to the App Store. In the meantime, we have to wonder if Apple would have changed the rules if the company on the other end of the line wasn’t Valve.
In any case, it’s interesting to see that Apple is willing to make changes, and shows that they understand how the market works.