Steam Link iOS App Rejected by Apple Due to 'Business Conflicts': Valve

Apple has rejected the Steam Link app for iOS twice. Announced earlier this month, the app lets you stream games from your Steam library on PC over to your iPhone or iPad. Steam Link has been available on Google Play for the better part of the week, albeit in beta. With it, you can play your collection of Steam titles on your smartphone, provided you've a powerful computer to run said games and you're under the same roof. While Apple has stayed quiet on the subject, Valve has issued a statement on the issue. A rarity given how secretive the company has usually been.

"On Monday, May 7th, Apple approved the Steam Link app for release. On Weds, May 9th, Valve released news of the app. The following morning, Apple revoked its approval citing business conflicts with app guidelines that had allegedly not been realized by the original review team. Valve appealed, explaining the Steam Link app simply functions as a LAN-based remote desktop similar to numerous remote desktop applications already available on the App Store," the statement reads.

"Ultimately, that appeal was denied leaving the Steam Link app for iOS blocked from release. The team here spent many hours on this project and the approval process, so we're clearly disappointed. But we hope Apple will reconsider in the future."

Apple's reasoning of possible business conflicts seems nebulous when you consider that the Steam app on iOS lets you buy games that you can play on your PC. The company doesn't take a cut out of these sales and you could be doing such things on any other remote desktop client as well.

This isn't the first time Apple has run foul with developers. In fact, a group of iOS developers has called on Apple to commit to allowing free trials for all apps in the App Store by July, while adding that it would eventually demand a "reasonable revenue cut".

Apple currently receives a 30 percent cut of what revenue developers earn from the App Store.

The group, which calls themselves "The Developers Union", detailed their demands in an open letter to the tech giant on Friday, MacRumors reported.

"We believe that people who create great software should be able to make a living doing it. So we created The Developers Union to advocate for sustainability in the App Store," the letter read.

"Today, we are asking Apple to commit to allowing free trials for all apps in the App Stores by the tenth anniversary of the App Store this July. After that, we'll start advocating for a more reasonable revenue cut and other community-driven, developer-friendly changes," it said.

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