As of August 1, 2021, Microsoft will require a percentage of 12% on the sale of games to developers through its own
Microsoft has planned to reduce its store fee to just 12%. As announced by the same Redmond company on the official Xbox Wire blog, the terms of use of the Microsoft Store for developers. From 1st August 2021, in fact, Microsoft will no longer require a percentage equal to 30% on the sale of games to developers through their own store but rather the 12%. This important novelty, however, is linked only to PC games sold on the Microsoft Store, while for those intended for consoles Xbox the percentage remains at 30%.
This is undoubtedly an important move by Microsoft, as it has aligned itself with the competition in the PC landscape. The tariff in question, in fact, is the same as Epic and its store, while Valve it still stands at 3o% with its platform Steam.
Returning to the digital stores on consoles, a spokesperson for Microsoft said that there are currently no similar programs for the Xbox ecosystem, but that the intention is to cut its rates even outside the PC world. Below is a brief excerpt from the press release published on Xbox Wire:
Developers are the ones who bring great games to our players and we want them to find success on our platforms. That’s why today we’re announcing we’re updating our Microsoft Store terms for PC game developers. As part of our commitment to empower every PC game creator to get the most out of it, as of August 1, developers’ share of Microsoft Store’s net revenue of PC game sales will increase from 70% to 88%. A clear and unconstrained revenue share means developers will be able to bring more games to more players and achieve greater commercial success in doing so.
UPDATE: A Microsoft spokeperson has denied the increase in earnings for console developers, but it is not yet clear what the misunderstanding was born from.
