Apple’s App Store now permits streaming game stores, adds in-app purchase for mini-apps, games, and AI chatbots

techcrunch.com:

Alongside the numerous changes Apple is making to its platforms to comply with the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), the company is also updating its rules around streaming game services and other apps that provide access to mini-apps or games. The changes could impact companies like Netflix, which has expanded into mobile and cloud gaming in recent months, as well as efforts from other tech giants like OpenAI, which offers a GPT store, and Meta, which in 2022 had shut down its attempt at running a standalone Facebook Gaming app after failing to gain traction.

According to an announcement Apple published on Thursday, developers globally can now submit a single app that has the capability of streaming all the games offered in their catalog.

This is a change from the prior rules which said that every individual game offered to iOS users had to be listed on its own, separate App Store page — a requirement Apple said was necessary in order to properly review and vet each app’s age rating and compliance with the App Store Review Guidelines.

The goal, most likely, is to encourage companies who would rather launch an independent app store for gaming — now that’s permitted in the EU by the DMA — to do so on Apple’s App Store instead, where Apple takes a cut of the in-app purchases.

Microsoft, notably, had been weighing the option of launching its own mobile gaming store, it was reported last year. In addition, Fortnite maker Epic Games also wanted to distribute its games through its own games store, suing Apple over antitrust concerns in hopes of gaining that opportunity. But Apple largely won its court battle in the U.S., having only been forced to comply with the one provision that now allows developers to point to their own payment systems and websites from inside their apps.

It remains to be seen how these companies will respond to Apple’s new options.

In addition to allowing single apps to host streaming games, Apple says that mini-games, mini-apps, chatbots, and plug-ins will