When Epic Games launched its digital PC games store back in 2018, one of the big differentiators it had compared to Steam was the cut it took from each game sale. Steam takes 30% while Epic only takes 12%, and it attracted lots of developers to Epic’s store. Now Microsoft is copying that move.
Posting on Xbox Wire, Matt Booty, Head of Xbox Game Studios, confirmed that from Aug. 1, “the developer share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue will increase to 88%, from 70%.” Microsoft sees this as a move to bring more developers to its store rather than going to one of the other popular digital games stores. Offering them more money per sale without any extra work required is certainly attractive.
While this is great news for developers in the short term, it could prove of even greater benefit long term due to the pressure it places on Valve. Steam continues to demand a 30% cut of each sale, which is now that much harder to justify seeing as both Microsoft and Epic take 18% less. It could also see Steam start to lose more new releases because publishers and developers view Valve’s store as the expensive option, even though it is the most popular.
Microsoft’s games store for PC isn’t popular, but this revenue share reduction combined with the rumored new app store being developed for Windows 10, could certainly spark a resurgence. Epic may not appreciate Microsoft copying its revenue share percentage, but there’s always the option to lower it even further.
