Facebook has taken longer than iOS users could expect to deliver the Facebook Gaming app within Apple's mobile platform. After several months of delay, the application is now available in the App Store, although without one of its main functionalities: access to games.
The social network claims that it has been forced to launch a reduced version of the Facebook Gaming application for Apple to give the go-ahead for its approval to be available on the App Store. This shortened version does not offer access to games, one of the main features of the platform.
As Facebook Gaming COO Sheryl Sanderg tells The Verge:
Unfortunately, we had to remove the gaming functionality entirely to get Apple's approval on the Facebook Gaming app which means that iOS users have a lower experience than Android users.
We remain focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play on Facebook each month even though Apple is making it difficult to offer the same functionality through an app.
Facebook claims that Apple will not allow applications whose primary function is to distribute software, including games. Remember that all applications must go through the App Store before being installed on any Apple device so that it has the ability to analyze them and check their operation.
Mark Zuckerberg's company claims it's not a fair deal for the application because Facebook Gaming is not focused on games and that 95% of its users' activity is focused on watching videos.
Streaming games
The case of Facebook is the same that Telegram already faced in 2016, when tried to insert a play store in your app, something that Apple obviously refused and that years later has ended in a Telegram complaint to Apple for monopoly.
Facebook Gaming has nothing to do with the controversy of the latest statements by Apple in which it states that streaming video game platforms such as Microsoft's Stadia and xCloud will not be available to iPhone and iPad users.
