Valve removes in-app purchasing from Steam Link iOS

Gaming giant Valve is continuing with efforts to release its Steam Link App, which allows PC games to be streamed from a desktop or laptop to a mobile device, on Apple's iOS platform, releasing a new version which removes the ability to spend money on the Steam platform.

Announced back in May, the Steam Link App builds on Valve's earlier Steam In-Home Streaming platform and Steam Link microconsole to allow games to be executed on a suitably powerful Windows, macOS, or Linux desktop or laptop and streamed to a considerably lower-power smartphone or tablet. At the time, the company promised the software would launch on Google's Android and Apple's iOS mobile platforms, but when the software was finally released it came out as an Android exclusive - the result, Valve claimed, of a last-minute reversal of approval for App Store listing by Apple.

Since then, Valve has been working to resolve the issue and get Steam Link released on iOS - and it may have found the solution. In an update to the beta release spotted by mobile gaming site Touch Arcade, Valve has removed the ability to buy games or add real-world cash to the in-Steam wallet from the iOS Steam Link build. If, as has been speculated, Apple's concerns over the app relate to the fact that it allows users to give Valve cash without Apple getting the 30 percent cut of the proceeds it usually demands from software on its mobile platform, this should allow it to be approved for App Store distribution.

Thus far, neither Valve nor Apple have commented on the update, and the Steam Link app is still not generally available from the Apple App Store - but if the update works around Apple's issues with the software, that could change in the coming weeks.