It would be messy for sure but there is somewhat precedence for it. WeChat operates its own AppStores and is subservient to the CCP. 'Running' your own AppStore is forbidden in the iOS terms of service but when you have the might of a billion people, some rules are okay to be broken.
WeChat mini-programs don't actually run as native code on the phone though. They're much more like web apps running on the WeChat back end, with WecChat acting as a browser to access them. Roblox does a similar thing, with interactive games from third parties running on the Roblox servers in the virtual environment. A third party app store where you install native code apps on the phone, directly accessing phone OS services and consuming local resources is a completely different thing, right?
The same thing could be said of game streaming apps like Stadia (all the game code is running remotely) but are forbidden in the App Store. It's hard to take Apple seriously when they do shit like this.
It is weird they’re making it so that each game you’ve bought needs a separate App Store entry, especially since the local code is all the same and a thin shim. That being said, the same rules are in effect for Apple’s own game platform so maybe there’s a specific reason (eg uniform experience for any app, they can properly promote individual titles in the App Store instead of allowing walled gardens within its platform that it can’t see into.
I think it’s so app-level device-management policy features can be applied to the content of these services at a per-game granular level.
Having each game as its own app means each game gets its own app-store age rating; its own star-rating, reviews, and install metrics; its own parental-control settings (e.g. screen time limits); its own corporate MDM blacklist-ability; and the ability for Apple to block that individual game from being installable, either temporarily because it’s breaking App Store policy, or permanently within some country whose regime doesn’t allow it.
Also, Apple haven’t mentioned exactly how they’re implementing this just yet, but I would guess that the game streaming services are going to be required to have each client version paired 1:1 with a particular release of the streamed game, such that you must update the app to connect to an updated streaming backend. This would put Apple’s App Store review team back in the critical path for approving changes in app content.
Sure. It’s still a little hard to justify when you have video streaming services (which at a technical level is all that Stadia is as well). While Netflix is largely non-interactive content, they certainly do have interactive pieces (eg the experiment they did with a choose your adventure Kimmy Schmidt).
The point is, WeChat doesn't have to offer separate apps for their mini programs in the AppStore. But Facebook was blocked from doing a similar thing for games.
I am sure Roblox is not having each of their mini games as a separate entry in App Store. I guess as long as Apple is getting 30% cut from your subscription fee.
With Stadia/xplay you have your subscription which covers server costs but then you also buy each game individually. That could be the difference here.
You are supposed to have Apple approve all these games/apps before launch. But of course that kind of restriction does not apply to an app that basically is a requirement for a phone in a desired market like China.
