After Epic Games’ humongous movement and lowering of store cut at which the Epic Games Store operates, Microsoft has decided to adopt a similar cut. Apparently, Microsoft is lowering the store cut to only 12% starting on August 1st, which will undoubtedly allow them to compete with other digital resellers much easier. Valve’s Steam, however, is still sleeping.
This is a developer share increase of 88% and should help Microsoft build a more robust Xbox Game Pass with diverging offers and libraries, despite the fact that the store cut reflects only PC game sales. Xbox Game sales, on the other side, won’t offer the same revenue share due to its completely different business model. In a recent Xbox Wire Article, Microsoft stated:
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. As part of our commitment to empower every PC game creator to achieve more, starting on August 1 the developer share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue will increase to 88%, from 70%. A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so. You can read more about this new revenue share and our work with developers from Head of Game Creator Experience and Ecosystem Sarah Bond.
While Valve’s Steam continues to rip apart developers, the competition is slowly but surely building up. There are numerous digital resellers nowadays that offer stronger developer revenue than Valve’s Steam. Steam is still in a dominating state, but it may face changes very soon as events are going on recently. Developers have already started, with a big swing, adopting Epic Games as their main reseller, which now stands side by side with Microsoft.
There have been some popular faces that have already praised the recent move by Microsoft. Epic Games founder and CEO Tim Sweeney has already responded positively within a Tweet.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 29, 2021
