Most gamers may not expect that Apple Inc, as the "largest" game publishing company in the world, its role and "power" are to some extent similar to Sony Group Corp, who publishes games in PlayStation, or Microsoft Corp, who publishes games in Xbox.

You won't play each other's game products on PS or Xbox, but as the manufacturer of iPhone, Apple Inc App Store can not only influence Sony Group Corp, Microsoft Corp and Nintendo, but also promote (or manage) the entire Internet game industry through approval and decision-making systems.

Just in these two days, App Store exercised its approval power again. One is used to veto the game application of the world's largest software company, and the other is used to approve the game application of the world's largest social networking platform.

Whether approved or rejected, there is a "itch of hate" behind it, but it seems that at present there is nothing anyone can do about Apple Inc's App Store.

Both Microsoft Corp and Facebook should be soft in the face of the "butler".

It was Microsoft Corp's cloud game app that was rejected, and employees in the Xbox department were outraged.

Microsoft xCloud has been one of the most powerful software platforms on Xbox for quite a long time. The launch of xCloud gives Microsoft Corp an opportunity to connect billions of mobile phone players around the world.

Microsoft Corp did not have the opportunity to interact with these mobile players before, because Microsoft Corp has not released any mobile games for many years, you know, the annual growth rate of mobile game business is 26.8%.

Since Microsoft Corp announced the launch of cloud game streaming service xCloud in 2018, he can be said to be full of ambition, but he has always been stuck in the difficulty of Apple Inc App Store.

A day ago, Microsoft Corp officially announced that the Microsoft xCloud would be launched exclusively for Android devices on September 15, but Apple Inc's iOS device is still a long way off. It is understood that Microsoft Corp has previously tested xCloud on Apple Inc's iOS device, but Microsoft Corp revealed that their test was limited by the rules of Apple Inc's App Store app store, but Microsoft Corp did not disclose the specific rules.

Microsoft Corp's xCloud project is not cheap for Android users, charging $14.99 a month as part of the Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription package, while Microsoft Corp promises to offer more than 100 games to Android tablets and phones.

A spokesman for Microsoft Corp said in a statement that their goal is to launch a large-scale cloud game streaming service xCloud (hopefully including iOS) to mobile devices around the world.

Unlike Microsoft Corp, Facebook's Facebook Inc Gaming was finally approved by App Store a day ago. After receiving rejection letters from Apple Inc for several months in a row, Facebook Inc's Gaming app was released after going through untold hardships this time, and was finally able to embrace the vast number of iOS users.

However, Facebook doesn't seem happy because Mini Game in Facebook Inc's Gaming app has been removed from iPhone and iPad.

Shirley Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, said in a statement to the media: "it is a pity that we have to completely delete the game function in order to get Apple Inc's approval of the independent Facebook Inc Gaming app." Facebook also said that this means that the experience of iOS users is much worse than that of Android users.

Microsoft Corp expressed great anger at Apple Inc's "overbearing" behavior and shouted in a statement: "Apple Inc is the only general mobile platform that refuses consumers to use game subscription services such as cloud games and Xbox Game Pass.

Moreover, it is consistently cruel to 'other people' game applications, adopting loose approval rules for non-game applications even if they violate the rules that contain interactive content. "

As a giant with a market capitalization of US $1.61 trillion, Microsoft Corp has nothing to do with the size of his Apple Inc company (market capitalization of US $1.9 trillion). After all, iOS is "the largest gaming platform in the world", as Apple Inc CEO Tim Cook proudly emphasized when the company launched its own game subscription platform, Apple Arcade.

Apple Inc likes to play games at his own pace, and all the game streaming platforms that appear at the same time seem to look at it. The key is that the game industry has indeed brought a huge boost to Apple Inc's stock price and market capitalization.

As early as two years ago, when Apple Inc APP Store's annual revenue exceeded $40 billion, 82% of that revenue came from the game industry. In 2019, App Store's revenue reached $50 billion, while generating a profit of about $15 billion for Apple Inc.

Because the game industry is a vertical segment, its model is destined to focus on specific markets and people, rather than a wide range of users. Apple Inc's huge profits from APP Store and the Matthew effect are making it the "butler" of this particular market.

The identity of "butler" is constantly challenged.

Cloud game applications are inconsistent with some rules of App Store in some ways, resulting in many companies' cloud game apps being unable to log on to App Store, which always seems to be reasonable.

Because these rules of the game are only the guidelines laid down by Apple Inc Company. For Apple Inc, it's basically up to them. App Store has its own decision-making mechanism, and approving platform-level cloud game applications may mean that auditors can't specifically review cloud game programs that damage the App Store experience.

When cloud gaming platforms like xCloud can't get iOS support, millions of Apple Inc mobile phone users may be angry that their iPhone can't do what their friends (Android phones) can do.

For the average consumer, playing console-level games on the iPhone will be a major feature upgrade. There are about 90 million Xbox Live users worldwide, and perhaps a large proportion of them are iPhone users. The global market is entering the trend of the rise of cloud games, and the game industry is steadily developing around game subscription networks and cloud game models, and all players in the field are encouraging consumers to try more games and find more boutiques.

But Apple Inc App Store is not happy with this trend, at least not for now.

In this regard, Microsoft Corp's Xbox team obviously believes that with the increasing attention of antitrust, Apple Inc's approach in the App Store war is obviously problematic, and App Store seems to focus entirely on maintaining the monetization of consumers playing games on the iPhone screen.

Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc, is likely to answer questions about "monopoly issues" at more antitrust hearings in the near future, which are actually still under way.

The antitrust challenge that Apple Inc currently faces mainly stems from his App Store audit rules and their implementation methods. Spotify (SPOT), a well-known application developer, recently complained to regulators about App Store's application review guidelines, saying it was unfair.

Some developers also questioned Apple Inc's 30 per cent commission on app sales through App Store, saying there was a clear injustice. Because Apple Inc's Apple Music service does not have to pay a commission to itself, Apple Inc also runs his own game service project Apple Arcade, which users can get through paid subscriptions and can play games on iPhone,iPad and Mac computers.

Cook denied the allegations at an antitrust hearing before the House Judiciary Committee last week, stressing that App Store has helped developers create 1.9 million jobs and have 1.7 million applications, of which Apple Inc is only involved.

Apple Inc also highlighted that Facebook and Microsoft Corp-related game apps violate two elements of App Store rules: Microsoft Corp violates Apple Inc's rules on remote desktop clients, while Facebook violates HTML 5 games and program robots.

But these responses obviously can not dispel the doubts about Apple Inc's monopoly on the App Store market. Recently, companies such as Microsoft Corp and Facebook have been sending a message to the industry: Apple Inc's rules on App Store are a common pain for the entire game industry, which will eventually hurt players and developers and seriously hinder other types of mobile business innovation models, such as cloud games.

The dissatisfaction expressed by Facebook and Microsoft Corp over the experience of their game apps in Apple Inc's App Store may prompt the European Union to continue to investigate Apple Inc's business, foreign media reported on Aug. 10.

The European Union's antitrust regulator said recently that they are also paying attention to this kind of phenomenon. As early as June this year, the European Commission launched four investigations into Apple Inc, three of which targeted Apple Inc's App Store and its restrictions, including requiring application developers to use Apple Inc's own in-app purchase system.

Concluding remarks

Obviously, Apple Inc's leading position in the gaming industry does not seem to have a positive impact on the industry as a whole. Apple Inc has played the role of "butler". In fact, due to the role of App Store audit rules, many "innovative" results are beneficial to Apple Inc, but the development of gamers and the game industry is worthy of industry-wide skepticism.

As the antitrust investigation into App Store continues, Apple Inc will almost certainly face other challenges from competitors, and it needs to come up with the right answer if it is to remain unscathed.