Microsoft will let devs preserve each penny their Windows app makes — except it’s a sport

As a part of its Windows 11 bulletins on Thursday, Microsoft revealed a major policy change to incentivize builders to make apps for the Microsoft Store: beginning on July twenty eighth, if a developer makes use of their very own or a third-party fee system of their app, Microsoft will allow them to preserve one hundred pc of the income. But the deal has one necessary caveat: it doesn’t apply to video games, Microsoft confirmed to The Verge.

That omission additional muddies the continued debate concerning the variations between an app and a sport and app retailer insurance policies round every — a distinction that is among the core points within the ongoing authorized battle between Fortnite-maker Epic Games and Apple.

Microsoft is essentially on the aspect of apps and video games being completely different as a result of its backside line is dependent upon it. During the Epic trial, the corporate testified that it sells costly Xbox {hardware} at a loss and makes its earnings from the 30 p.c reduce it takes of sport gross sales and subscriptions. But it additionally appeared like Microsoft was saying that PC video games had been completely different: the corporate lately introduced that it could decrease its reduce of sport revenues within the Microsoft Store from 30 to 12 p.c beginning on August 1st.

It’s not clear if Epic CEO Tim Sweeney was conscious of the caveat when he tweeted this:

While the brand new one hundred pc revshare possibility doesn’t apply to video games, it’s nonetheless a major coverage shift — one which each Windows chief Panos Panay and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made a giant deal about of their remarks at Thursday’s keynote. Now, we simply need to see if the brand new mannequin is attractive sufficient to convey extra builders to the Microsoft Store and if the strain will lead different platform holders like Apple and Google to make related adjustments.