Netflix will provide each game offered through its gaming service through the App Store, instead of providing them directly from the Netflix app. This is due to Apple’s rules, says Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman.
The reason for Netflix having to offer its games in this matter is the same one faced by Microsoft when it was looking to release its cloud-based gaming service. Apple’s App Store guidelines prevent such an app from being available in the App Store, as the guidelines require developers to submit every game that would be offered through its app as a separate app on the App Store.
Netflix last week announced the rollout of its Netflix Games service, which allows Netflix subscribers to play games on their mobile devices. While “Games” is now available for Android devices, Netflix says iOS support is “on the way.”
Writing in his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman says:
Because of Apple’s ban on all-in-one services, the current individual app implementation on Android of the Netflix service gives us a preview of how the Netflix offering will function on iOS.
Netflix has been actively testing games on iOS, and—according to code discovered by developer Steve Moser and shared with Power On—Netflix will release all of its games on Apple’s App Store individually and let users launch the games via the Netflix app. They won’t all be downloadable and playable within the app itself.
The experience is certainly not as seamless and intuitive as Netflix would like. Apple operates its own gaming service, Apple Arcade, which is offered directly within the App Store.
