The story with commissions launched by Epic Games continues to gain momentum. This time in the role of the “destroyer of tranquility” — Microsoft. The company announced that from August 1, the commission of the Windows Store app store will decrease from 30% to 12%. This will only affect games.
So far, the Windows Store looks like this
This was announced today, April 29, in the official Microsoft blog
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios. According to him, Microsoft is interested in game developers achieving success on its platforms.
“A clear commission, devoid of any additional complex conditions, is exactly what will allow developers to offer more and more games to an increasing audience, thereby earning more and more from this,” Butti stressed.
The quote can be read both as a hairpin to Steam, whose commission depends on the cash register collected by a particular game (the base commission is 30%, if the game earned $ 10 million, the commission is reduced to 25%, and if $ 50 million, then up to 20%), and as a reproach towards the App Store and Google Play, reduced the commission to 15% only for companies with a turnover of less than $ 1 million per year.
In any case, Microsoft itself takes an example from the Epic Games Store, whose commission is the same 12% (in other words, 88% of the amount received from the user goes to the developer from each sale).
This news, as well as reports that the company is preparing a total redesign of the existing store with the addition of new features (for example, the ability to use any payment system), clearly indicates Microsoft’s plans to start competing with Valve.
The success of this enterprise directly depends on how significantly Microsoft is ready to revise its policy on working with a store that has never been distinguished by either convenience or assortment before.