Valve's Steam Link App Finally Comes To iOS

Nearly a year after getting turned away from Apple's App Store, Gamasutra is reporting that Valve's Steam Link app has finally been given the green light.

The Steam Link app enables players to stream the Steam client from their PC to their mobile device, so long as that mobile device is on the same network as the PC running Steam. It's a way to keep playing your video games in bed or while in the bathroom, essentially, and it really should've passed through the App Store approval process without much hassle.

The rub, according to Apple last year, was that the Steam Link app presented "business conflicts" for the company. And those business conflicts had to do with the fact that players using the Steam Link app could purchase and download games from Steam without Apple receiving its 30% App Store cut.

It's entirely ridiculous, of course. Those who might purchase a game in the Steam Link app would likely be in the same household as their computer running Steam anyway, and could simply walk over to their computer and buy the game that way without Apple having anything to do with it. And that's to say nothing of the fact that a Steam app exists already on iOS that contains access to the full store.

So what changed exactly? What convinced Apple that the Steam Link app was fine, and that it should finally be allowed on the App Store? We're really not sure. We haven't come across reports of any significant changes to the Steam Link app yet, nor have we received word that the two companies came together and solved their conflict, thus clearing the way for the app to show up. Perhaps Valve made a tweak or two so Apple would play ball. Or maybe Apple came around and realized this was a really silly fight to pick.

Valve's Steam Link app is available via the App Store now, and compatible with both MFi controllers as well as Valve's own Steam Controller.