Apple blocks games from Microsoft, Google, and Facebook; fight gets Twitter-official

Igniting a 'gaming-world' war, Apple has decided to block three games of three tech-giants — Microsoft, Facebook and Google — from its App Store.

The list contains Microsoft's Game Pass, Google's Stadia and Facebook's gaming app.

The decision was taken by Apple as the company claims that the three tech-giants did not submit the games individually for review. Apple claimed that their company does not allow apps to feature on their store without a review, and since the companies did not submit individual games for review, Apple decided to block the games that could enable access to these non-reviewed games.

The company issued a statement explaining the reason behind the decision of blocking these games. "Our customers enjoy great apps and games from millions of developers, and gaming services can absolutely launch on the App Store as long as they follow the same set of guidelines applicable to all developers, including submitting games individually for review, and appearing in charts and search. In addition to the App Store, developers can choose to reach all iPhone and iPad users over the web through Safari and other browsers on the App Store."

Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg reacted to the news by saying, “Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the stand-alone Facebook Gaming app.”

In a Twitter thread, Facebook Gaming announced the launch of standalone Facebook Gaming app. "But for FB game developers and players...we have some bad news. After months of submissions and repeated rejections by Apple, we’ve had to remove instant games entirely from the standalone app," Facebook Gaming tweeted.

Microsoft, too, issued a statement that read, "Apple stands alone as the only general purpose platform to deny consumers from cloud gaming and game subscription services like Xbox Game Pass. And it consistently treats gaming apps differently, applying more lenient rules to non-gaming apps even when they include interactive content."