In good news for developers, Microsoft has just announced plans to cut its revenue share for games on the Windows Store, starting from 1 August this year. It’ll drop from 30 per cent (which is standard for the industry) to only 12 per cent.
Rival company Steam, on the other hand, still pockets 30 per cent from game publishers, so Microsoft’s move is clearly a competitive one.
Meanwhile, Epic Games also sits at the 12 per cent mark, so with Microsoft meeting it, the entire landscape could change. Perhaps this will trigger Steam into reassessing its business model, or risk losing favour.
A recent poll by GDC showed that only 3 per cent of participants agreed with the 30/70 split used across the industry.
Google Play and the Epic Games Store have reduced the cut after a certain amount of revenue or just reduced it all together.
While Steam does have a similar arrangement, wherein software generates more than US$10 million in sales, it remains one of the most expensive revenue-sharing agreements for games publishers.
By undercutting the dominant Steam, Microsoft aims to entice more developers to the Windows Store in comparison.
Matt Booty, head of Xbox Game Studios, stated in a blog post: “A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so.”
