Apple has issued a formal response to the proposals from UK Competition and Markets Authority (Competition and Markets Authorityor CMA) to make the App Store and iOS platforms more user-friendly cloud gaming services. The antitrust body, it is worth remembering, began investigating Apple last November.
The CMA, which had accused Apple of using its dominant position to limit the game streaming market, suggested, among other things, that the company make the App Store app review process more transparent, allow the distribution of web apps in its store and also released the controversial “sideloading”.
In a document sent on January 20 [PDF]Apple said the CMA proposals were not aimed at the cloud gaming market, but rather at “bigger concerns identified in the final MEMS report (Mobile Ecosystem Market Study) for distributing applications”. Furthermore, they would be “clearly inappropriate and unreasonable” for this sector of the streaming market.
Also according to the company, the changes proposed by the CMA have the “risk of disproportionately impacting the Apple ecosystem”. She also advocated a “proper investigation” led not by the antitrust agency, but by the Digital Markets Unit (DMU) — something even suggested by the CMA itself.
The Cupertino giant also said that it does not prohibit the distribution of cloud gaming apps in the App Store, and that, in fact, it encourages them. The company, however, recognized that, for this, developers would have to use web pages created specifically for their store and that each title present in the catalog of these services would have to go through an individual review process — two of the main barriers for these services. services.
To try to justify these rules, Apple explained that games have “real and new risks from a security/privacy perspective”, something that does not happen, for example, with apps for streaming movies and series.
The CMA investigation is expected to end in May 2024.
via AppleInsider
