The developer share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue will increase to 88%, from 70%

Microsoft announced that it will significantly reduce the share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue from 30% to 12%. This adjustment will take effect from August 1st. This will increase the competitiveness of the Windows Store in the face of large game platforms such as Steam and is expected to attract more developers or publishers to sell games through the Windows Store.

Game developers are at the heart of bringing great games to our players, and we want them to find success on our platforms. That’s why today we’re announcing that we’re updating our Microsoft Store terms for PC game developers.

Screenshot of top Windows 10 Gaming Features

However, the Windows Store is not the first platform to reduce the commission to 12%. Epic has reduced the commission for its Epic store to 12%. This makes that among the current large game platforms, only Steam still maintains a 30% commission.

At present, Steam is still the largest platform for game distribution and sale on PC. However, according to a previous survey of 3,000 professionals and game industry professionals, most developers do not actually think that Steam’s 30% commission is reasonable. Therefore, Microsoft’s reduction of the commission will undoubtedly put some pressure on Steam.

However, Microsoft may also be determined to improve the Windows Store, because Matt Booty also mentioned in the blog that “We’re also bringing more quality-of-life improvements to PC gamers, including improved install reliability and faster download speeds over the next few months.” In addition, Microsoft is reportedly preparing to make a major change to the Windows Store, allowing developers to upload any Windows application.