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Apple's argument could be primary purpose. A general RDP app would stream your entire desktop; exactly what happens on the desktop is outside of the purview of

Apple's argument could be primary purpose. A general RDP app would stream your entire desktop; exactly what happens on the desktop is outside of the purview of the app. This Steam Link app is designed to stream Steam, but can be kinda/sorta halfway backed into streaming the remote desktop. It's primary purpose is to stream the Steam "Big Picture" UI -- which prominently features an independent store -- in addition to any PC games that run through Steam. If Valve were to remove the store links, this would be a very different discussion. It's similar to how Apple wouldn't allow something like the Kindle app to "just" direct users to an in-app web-view or deep-link to content in the system browser to avoid paying Apple -- if you're selling a digital good on an iOS/tvOS platform, you need to pay the 30% gatekeeper's fee.

guu 8y ago
This is no different than R-Play though. A Remote Play app for iOS to connect to a Playstation 4 which is allowed on the App Store.
- ascagnel_ 8y ago
  Playing devil's advocate, I can see the R-Play developer defending their app as "only" streaming the PS4 experience, something that they don't really control. If Sony decided to put the store front-and-center, there's nothing that developer could do to get around it. That said: > Lombardi said Steam disabled purchasing its iOS app but did not elaborate on how the change was made.[0] If this is the case, then I've got no idea why Apple would block the app. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-steam/apple-blocks-steams-plan-to-extend-its-video-games-to-iphones-idUSKCN1IQ09D https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-steam/apple-blocks-...
- giobox 8y ago
  I wonder if this is really apple’s concern. It’s not hard to imagine this feature eventually evolving to the point where you don’t run your own games on your PC and stream to your device. Surely within the next 5 years this feature evolves to have Valve run the games in the cloud and stream to your device, so it’s always available if you have a sufficient connection, no need to even have a PC. At that point it’s a much bigger competitive risk to Apples AppStore game sales revenue. To play devils advocate, I could see this argument having more strength within Apple’s walls than banning an app that just streams games from the user’s own PC. I think it’s inevitable Valve enter the cloud hosted pc gaming market eventually, personally. Sales of mobile devices and cheap PCs dwarf sales of gaming PCs, the size of the potential customer base explodes once your users don’t need to be well off enough to afford a gaming rig.
  - ascagnel_ 8y ago
    > It’s not hard to imagine this feature eventually evolving to the point where you don’t run your own games on your PC and stream to your device. nVidia already runs such a service, GeForce NOW. I've been trying the Mac beta for a few months and... it's not great. Some games just need 1:1, perfect streaming (twitch shooters, 2D platformers, etc.), and their service at best (when on wired ethernet and a datacenter nearby) delivers a lag of 2-3 frames. Valve's product, since you're running it on your local network, can get that down to a single frame, but that can still be too much at times.
    - giobox 8y ago
      What you say is true of today. I'm talking about the future. I think it's foolish to bet against cloud game streaming technology reaching the point where it is good enough for _most_ people, and when it does I'd be even further surprised if Valve aren't at least trying to be a major player. LAN based game streaming is always going to be a relatively niche feature, as gaming PCs are increasingly niche. Cheap tablets/phones/laptops that could use a cloud based service number well into the billions at this point. As for your point about lag - sure it's not going to be as low latency as a local LAN system, but honestly I don't think a lot of customers will notice this too much or care - people are already happy with 30FPS consoles with often terrible controller latency on some titles. Sure there will be those who still want the best, and they will continue to build expensive gaming towers. The Playstation Now game streaming service has been relatively successful despite having all of these problems and more. I recently finished The Last Of Us on playstation now. Again, it wasn't the best, but it was very close to "good enough". Many kids today are happy playing "Fortnite" on a phone. A phone, playing an online FPS with touch controls... It's clear that perfect playing conditions are not the primary driver for a lot of people.
sbarre 8y ago
There's an iOS Steam Store app already whose only real purpose is to let people buy games from the Steam store from their iOS devices. I guess maybe it's the combination of "you can buy apps and also play them" that is causing the issue.

guu 8y ago

This is no different than R-Play though. A Remote Play app for iOS to connect to a Playstation 4 which is allowed on the App Store.

ascagnel_ 8y ago
Playing devil's advocate, I can see the R-Play developer defending their app as "only" streaming the PS4 experience, something that they don't really control. If Sony decided to put the store front-and-center, there's nothing that developer could do to get around it. That said: > Lombardi said Steam disabled purchasing its iOS app but did not elaborate on how the change was made.[0] If this is the case, then I've got no idea why Apple would block the app. [0]: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-steam/apple-blocks-steams-plan-to-extend-its-video-games-to-iphones-idUSKCN1IQ09D https://www.reuters.com/article/us-apple-steam/apple-blocks-...
giobox 8y ago
I wonder if this is really apple’s concern. It’s not hard to imagine this feature eventually evolving to the point where you don’t run your own games on your PC and stream to your device. Surely within the next 5 years this feature evolves to have Valve run the games in the cloud and stream to your device, so it’s always available if you have a sufficient connection, no need to even have a PC. At that point it’s a much bigger competitive risk to Apples AppStore game sales revenue. To play devils advocate, I could see this argument having more strength within Apple’s walls than banning an app that just streams games from the user’s own PC. I think it’s inevitable Valve enter the cloud hosted pc gaming market eventually, personally. Sales of mobile devices and cheap PCs dwarf sales of gaming PCs, the size of the potential customer base explodes once your users don’t need to be well off enough to afford a gaming rig.
- ascagnel_ 8y ago
  > It’s not hard to imagine this feature eventually evolving to the point where you don’t run your own games on your PC and stream to your device. nVidia already runs such a service, GeForce NOW. I've been trying the Mac beta for a few months and... it's not great. Some games just need 1:1, perfect streaming (twitch shooters, 2D platformers, etc.), and their service at best (when on wired ethernet and a datacenter nearby) delivers a lag of 2-3 frames. Valve's product, since you're running it on your local network, can get that down to a single frame, but that can still be too much at times.
  - giobox 8y ago
    What you say is true of today. I'm talking about the future. I think it's foolish to bet against cloud game streaming technology reaching the point where it is good enough for _most_ people, and when it does I'd be even further surprised if Valve aren't at least trying to be a major player. LAN based game streaming is always going to be a relatively niche feature, as gaming PCs are increasingly niche. Cheap tablets/phones/laptops that could use a cloud based service number well into the billions at this point. As for your point about lag - sure it's not going to be as low latency as a local LAN system, but honestly I don't think a lot of customers will notice this too much or care - people are already happy with 30FPS consoles with often terrible controller latency on some titles. Sure there will be those who still want the best, and they will continue to build expensive gaming towers. The Playstation Now game streaming service has been relatively successful despite having all of these problems and more. I recently finished The Last Of Us on playstation now. Again, it wasn't the best, but it was very close to "good enough". Many kids today are happy playing "Fortnite" on a phone. A phone, playing an online FPS with touch controls... It's clear that perfect playing conditions are not the primary driver for a lot of people.

sbarre 8y ago

There's an iOS Steam Store app already whose only real purpose is to let people buy games from the Steam store from their iOS devices. I guess maybe it's the combination of "you can buy apps and also play them" that is causing the issue.