Microsoft is moving to reduce their revenue cut with devs, planning to match the Epic Games Store’s 12% cut instead of the traditional 70/30 split.
The Epic Games Store disrupted the market by promising devs an 88/12 revenue split. Their plan worked, now with Microsoft planning to match their offer. The company will start this payment scheme this coming August 2021.
Microsoft likely heard grumble from industry survey
Revenue splits have become a hot topic recently, especially after learning the pulse of industry pros. From the GDC survey, less than 3% were happy about the 30% revenue cut with Steam. The 70/30 split has been an industry standard for years now.
Big PC gaming news. Microsoft is shaking up the world of PC gaming by cutting the 30% fee it usually takes on PC games to just 12%. It's a bid to compete with Steam and entice game developers to the Windows store. Full details here: https://t.co/A6NM9GRtts pic.twitter.com/rMYbgXPqvM
— Tom Warren (@tomwarren) April 29, 2021
It seems that Microsoft saw the survey and are trying to do something about it. Microsoft plans to shakeup their fee structure beginning August 1. The tech giant will push up developer share of the net revenue up to 88%, the best in the industry.
While Epic offers the same, the main advantage of Microsoft will be its sheer size. The company is looking to create the “Netflix of Video Games” through their Game Pass. The company is also looking to build both their Xbox and PC catalog even further.
Increasing dev share makes the most sense if they want more devs to their side. It also helps that, apart from exclusivity deals, devs would rather go somewhere else than Epic.
Revenue share “no-strings-attached”, says Xbox Boss
With Microsoft planning to match the Epic Games Store’s sharing model, the company is incentivizing indie devs to work with them. Considering Microsoft is one-half of the titans of console gaming and the platform leader for PC, this is momentous.
— Tim Sweeney (@TimSweeneyEpic) April 29, 2021
“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%,” noted Matt Booty, Xbox Games Studio boss.
“A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so.”
Booty also noted that Microsoft is looking to improve their Microsoft Store client for PC. So far, The MS Store is a paltry compared to Valve and in distant second with other digital storefronts.
“We regularly work on features and functionality that improves and/or allows for a more customized experience like Xbox Game Bar,” Booty added. “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.”
The Epic Games Store started this wave of revenue sharing for devs. Whether Valve follows suit is still a mystery.
Featured image courtesy of Xbox.com/Official Press Release