Facebook Gaming Comes to iOS with No Games

Facebook has been slowly closing in the video and streaming section with its recently launched service Facebook Gaming. But apparently, due to a clash between Facebook and Apple, the company launched its service on iOS without any games.

Facebook Gaming is not only a video streaming service, but it also hosts a bunch of games for users to play, at least on Android. Because of Apple’s strict usage policy, Facebook had to remove these minigames, thus providing users with “an inferior experience”.

“Unfortunately, we had to remove gameplay functionality entirely in order to get Apple’s approval on the standalone Facebook Gaming app — meaning iOS users have an inferior experience to those using Android,” said Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s chief operating officer in a press statement given to The Verge. “We’re staying focused on building communities for the more than 380 million people who play games on Facebook every month — whether Apple allows it in a standalone app or not.”

– The Verge

Facebook further says that Apple rejected its app multiple times in the recent months. Apple has cited App Store guideline 4.7 to justify the rejections. Apple says that Facebook Game’s primary purpose is to play games, even though Facebook’s Android user data shows that 95% of the app activity is streaming.