Matching Epic, Microsoft is slashing what it takes from developers to 12%

polonyc2

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Microsoft is reducing the cut it takes from PC games sold on its store from 30 percent down to 12 percent

The reduction comes into effect on August 1st and will mean that Microsoft takes the same cut of revenue as Epic—something which it's been using since the launch of the Epic Game Store to try and entice developers...Valve still takes the standard 30 percent cut of games sold on Steam, reduced to 25 percent when sales hit $10 million and then 20 percent after $50 million...

https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/...will-slash-its-own-store-cut-on-pc-game-sales
 
I'll start buying more games from the Microsoft Store once we see what that supposed overhaul looks like and if we can actually take full ownership of the files to mod to our heart's content. And it doesn't take a week just to download a game. Otherwise this is of no benefit to customers.
 
I'll start buying more games from the Microsoft Store once we see what that supposed overhaul looks like and if we can actually take full ownership of the files to mod to our heart's content. And it doesn't take a week just to download a game. Otherwise this is of no benefit to customers.
Yeah, I like the idea and price of Game Pass, but dealing with the files if you want to uninstall, back up saves, etc. is a huge pain in the ass. And if a game leaves Game Pass while it's still installed, you might as well forget trying to uninstall it and just delete the whole folder.
 
I think they're taking a shot at EGS while they're down. Ever since Epic was subpeona'd by Apple and the media published they were hemorrhaging millions in capital for EGS exclusives & freebies, MS simply put 2 and 2 together. "Hey, not only are we in the black, but we can actually afford what EGS is doing while they can't keep that up forever." They're putting the screws into Epic, forcing them to either race further to the bottom increasing their burn rate or inevitably lose partnerships.
 
reeeeee evil microsoft is giving devs a break on its cut reeeeeee!

good, more choice.
 
I'll start buying more games from the Microsoft Store once we see what that supposed overhaul looks like and if we can actually take full ownership of the files to mod to our heart's content. And it doesn't take a week just to download a game. Otherwise this is of no benefit to customers.
Agreed, their deployment sucks.
WhyTF does every hdd I install a game on need a few special windows folders. That storefront is a huge PITA.
 
For me this comes down to flexibility. I'm on alternate OS's and obviously Microsoft hasn't ever bothered to cater to any OS that isn't from themselves. I'll continue giving my money to Steam and GOG. Pretty much every other storefront sucks.
I don't even care about a lot of the other deep features. I just want the games I want to be on there, availability on all platforms (if the dev made it on all of said platforms, it seems to me that EGS is a terrible offender on this), user reviews, and preferably not having to install any software/launcher. Optional is fine (this is GOG's method) but yeah, Origin and EGS are both hot garbage.
And my beef now with Microsoft and their store is they're actively buying big properties and limiting them to themselves and their platforms. Which, good for them I guess, that's they're prerogative and big business, but now it's unlikely we'll ever see another inXile or Obsidian game developed for anything other than a Microsoft platform.

Sad to say, worrying about the devs cut rates pretty near zero on my list. I'm still of the opinion and standpoint that 30% is more than fair considering that digital distribution removed all the overhead necessary to launch a title. Devs are making more money than they ever have before with a bigger piece of the pie than ever before. All of the devs will make more money by being on all platforms, rather than limiting themselves to the ones that give them "the best rates". And that's obvious by looking at the big sink hole that EGS is, even when paying for a year of exclusivity. I sincerely doubt Microsoft moving to 12% will move the needle for their store or make a big impact in the bottom lines of pretty much every dev except perhaps 1st party Microsoft titles themselves (which could be a big deal considering their catalog now and of course XBox/Windows integration).
 
The Windows Store is okay. Not great, but I could see it as a viable option.

Personally I dislike UWP, because for a while you couldn't even run OSDs on it or mods or any sort of 3rd party tweaking. Not to mention the 60 fps lock on some games that couldn't be removed.

In any case, I think they fixed some of those problems, but it was a rocky start.
 
Coming Soon, Windows Store for MS Linux. Making all the games coded for Windows easily portable to linux... MS Linux.
 
Microsoft is building a new app store for Windows 10 in major revitalization effort

According to sources, there are three big changes coming to the new Store that will benefit developers:

-Allow developers to submit unpackaged Win32 apps to the Store
-Allow developers to host apps and updates on their own content delivery network (CDN)
-Allow developers to use third-party commerce platforms in apps

These changes will allow developers to bring their Win32 apps to the new Store without any changes to their existing code. In the past, developers were required to package their Win32 apps as an MSIX, and were forced to use Microsoft's own store-driven update and commerce platforms. This will no longer be necessary with the new Store...

https://www.windowscentral.com/windows-10-big-changes-coming-app-store
 
Microsoft is really turning a corner here. Still things I don't like, but they are making a real effort.
 
This is good but, I mostly use Linux on my personal computers now, anyways.
 
A standard cut of 30% seems high. Isn't the store just hosting the files to download? Am I missing something here?
 
The store is providing a venue, where users can find your product. Launching a game on your own website with your own payment processing is a pain and doesn't scale (also users don't like entering their CC numbers on random websites).

They are providing hosting with proper CDN so your product can reach a mass audience (if it is successful), and payment processing. Also additional features like user reviews, discussion boards, streamline patches/updates, ways to send notifications to users, (sometimes) online multiplayer, cloud saves, achievements, etc.

It's much more than just hosting a zip file.
 
I'm still salty that I needed an entirely seperate SSD for Microsoft gamepass games because they break my Primocache cache. Furthermore that they constantly fuck up my HDD monitoring software by making each fucking game install a seperate partition*.

Combined with the lack of being able to mod the games... I'm not buying shit from the MS store.

If gamepass was more than the $3 a month I've already prepayed for 2 years I'd probably avoid it as well.

*I know these are related, and also likely mainly a problem exclusive to my setup.
 
I'll start buying more games from the Microsoft Store once we see what that supposed overhaul looks like and if we can actually take full ownership of the files to mod to our heart's content. And it doesn't take a week just to download a game. Otherwise this is of no benefit to customers.
I'm still waiting to have access to my OG copy of Gears of War they just decided to delete from my purchase history.
 
I have zero interest in the Windows Store. If they want to cut fees fine. They should continue putting all their games on Steam.
Honestly, I think this is mostly window dressing. Their focus is on Game Pass, not actual sales from the storefront. I don't think this will translate to much for the devs. Still, empty gestures make clicks.
 
The Windows Store is okay. Not great, but I could see it as a viable option.

Personally I dislike UWP, because for a while you couldn't even run OSDs on it or mods or any sort of 3rd party tweaking. Not to mention the 60 fps lock on some games that couldn't be removed.

In any case, I think they fixed some of those problems, but it was a rocky start.
Most games now on the Microsoft Store are Win32. The issues is that they're currently required to be deployed as a MSIX package, which causes a host of issues. MSIX, for one, seems like it was designed for quick deployment of enterprise applications, which are typically not as large as games are. Reading the page about MSIX seems ironic, as all the promises made by the deployment method have turned out to be the exact opposite in my experience with the Microsoft Store.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/overview

Thankfully, as noted above, Microsoft is getting rid of the MSIX requirement in its overhaul of the store, but we'll have to see how that works out in practice.
I'm still waiting to have access to my OG copy of Gears of War they just decided to delete from my purchase history.
I've had this issue on several occasions, and only with my PC purchases. They will just randomly disappear and reappear, and nothing Microsoft offers in support has solved the issue permanently. The larger issue is that the Microsoft Store on PC shows every single piece of content you have purchased across all Microsoft devices, and I have so much Xbox stuff that the page that is supposed to show everything I own just flat out doesn't work the way its implemented. Even if I filter to show only items installable on "this device" it won't show that I own anything. I have to search the store for products I already own to be able to install them on my PC. It's stupid. They need to address the handling of your library in this new version.
 
There's a reason Steam can (and should) charge 30%, while the others have to resort to these tactics...

btw Epic isn't "Hemmoraging" cash, they are spending it. They have TONS of cash thanks to Fortnite. They are (surely) taking tax breaks by "reinvesting" in their own store by doing these schemes of theirs... still dislike them immensely for third-party exclusives. They are not doing Gamers ANY favors... The ONE game I spent money on in the Epic store, I can't really play... Crysis Remastered. You can only do minimal key remapping (I don't used wsad) and I cannot get my layout to work as there are keys scattered all over that will not remap. Even tried copying the config from my Original copy of Crysis, doesn't work. $60 wasted... fuck you Epic.

Steam and GOG are where it's at.
 
I'll start buying more games from the Microsoft Store once we see what that supposed overhaul looks like and if we can actually take full ownership of the files to mod to our heart's content. And it doesn't take a week just to download a game. Otherwise this is of no benefit to customers.
I've been using Game Pass to download games for a while. Granted it's not through the "Store" app, but I have positive experiences with it as far as Game Pass games go.
 
You can only do minimal key remapping (I don't used wsad) and I cannot get my layout to work as there are keys scattered all over that will not remap.
This is probably overkill, but if you had a keyboard that used QMK you could remap the keys in firmware, on the keyboard itself.

Here's an example (this is an example, not necessarily an endorsement): https://drop.com/buy/drop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboard
 
You can also remap actions using the companion software that comes with any modern gaming keyboard.
Yeah, but (for example) iCue is a pain in the neck, and doesn't (for example) let you turn the arrow keys into WASD, as far as I know. With QMK, you can do stuff like that. I just got a split ergo keyboard, and the default keymap puts space on the left-hand side, which is torture if you touch type. Using the web config, fixing that is literally as easy as drag-and-dropping your changes, downloading a small FOSS executable and a firmware binary blob, and then using the executable to flash the new firmware. (I'll stop now because it's OT for the thread.)
 
Most games now on the Microsoft Store are Win32. The issues is that they're currently required to be deployed as a MSIX package, which causes a host of issues. MSIX, for one, seems like it was designed for quick deployment of enterprise applications, which are typically not as large as games are. Reading the page about MSIX seems ironic, as all the promises made by the deployment method have turned out to be the exact opposite in my experience with the Microsoft Store.

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/msix/overview

Thankfully, as noted above, Microsoft is getting rid of the MSIX requirement in its overhaul of the store, but we'll have to see how that works out in practice.

I've had this issue on several occasions, and only with my PC purchases. They will just randomly disappear and reappear, and nothing Microsoft offers in support has solved the issue permanently. The larger issue is that the Microsoft Store on PC shows every single piece of content you have purchased across all Microsoft devices, and I have so much Xbox stuff that the page that is supposed to show everything I own just flat out doesn't work the way its implemented. Even if I filter to show only items installable on "this device" it won't show that I own anything. I have to search the store for products I already own to be able to install them on my PC. It's stupid. They need to address the handling of your library in this new version.
Sounds like it's still a mess. UWP/UWA games I was never going to tolerate on principle- the arrogance of MS believing they could lock users out of their game files by containerizing them inside a proprietary, encrypted, hidden container held over from their failed tablet UI initiative was never going to fly. Users being locked out of backing up game files and locked out of mods - no thanks.

MSIX is just more nonsense. I read now that MS wants to finally, finally overhaul the store to be more like a repo that allows developers to distribute proper Win32 files as god intended. They should have done that a literal decade ago when their failed Windows 8 was still in beta and the Metro fisher-price tablet UI was the obsession of one nutjob running the windows division.

Talk about a lost decade. You had one job, MS.
 
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To Phil Spencer's credit: game pass is excellent, Xbox titles coming to PC and even being placed on Steam has been excellent (they should put them on GOG and other stores too). FS2020 is excellent. I'd happily buy MS games from the windows store once they can provide Win32 files without any gotchas.

The myth thats often repeated in these online arguments is "people just hate MS", but I believe most people would rather just see MS get better, not fail. Once a company returns to creating value for customers, the past fades.
 
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Yeah, but (for example) iCue is a pain in the neck, and doesn't (for example) let you turn the arrow keys into WASD
I just checked and Cooler Master's software has no issues doing that. Based on my limited experience as well as everything I've heard iCue is a disaster and really shouldn't be used to judge similar software.
 
The store is providing a venue, where users can find your product. Launching a game on your own website with your own payment processing is a pain and doesn't scale (also users don't like entering their CC numbers on random websites).

They are providing hosting with proper CDN so your product can reach a mass audience (if it is successful), and payment processing. Also additional features like user reviews, discussion boards, streamline patches/updates, ways to send notifications to users, (sometimes) online multiplayer, cloud saves, achievements, etc.

It's much more than just hosting a zip file.

The reality of the situation - lots of freeware apps we've been relying on and come to enjoy for the past 25 years are going to go away with a centralized Windows store. Think Android and iOS, all apps are practically payware. That is the last thing I want to see on Windows.
 
I just checked and Cooler Master's software has no issues doing that. Based on my limited experience as well as everything I've heard iCue is a disaster and really shouldn't be used to judge similar software.
That's actually good to know! I've only ever used iCue for commercial, proprietary keyboard software.
 
The ONE game I spent money on in the Epic store, I can't really play... Crysis Remastered. You can only do minimal key remapping (I don't used wsad) and I cannot get my layout to work as there are keys scattered all over that will not remap. Even tried copying the config from my Original copy of Crysis, doesn't work. $60 wasted... fuck you Epic.

https://atnsoft.com/keyremapper/
 
This is probably overkill, but if you had a keyboard that used QMK you could remap the keys in firmware, on the keyboard itself.

Here's an example (this is an example, not necessarily an endorsement): https://drop.com/buy/drop-ctrl-mechanical-keyboard

You can also remap actions using the companion software that comes with any modern gaming keyboard.
I know I could do those things, but I shouldn't need to do that to get around lazy fucking programming or a bug. It was a graphics overhaul, why did they have to break the keybinding functionality...
I would have better luck with a modder community created HD texture pack that was free and upgrade the original game, than this pos.

I remapped E to Enter/Exit/Interact, remapped F to move forward, yet it still thinks it is "Exit vehicle" (even tho Enter vehicle properly moved to E) so for 5 minutes, gameplay was fine until I tried driving a tank. Try to drive the Tank forward, he jumps out.
 
I've been using Game Pass to download games for a while. Granted it's not through the "Store" app, but I have positive experiences with it as far as Game Pass games go.

The one problem with the Xbox and the Windows Games store is this: They cap the speed at which you can download games. The best I get is about 280Mbps on my Xbox One X or through the Windows XBox app and this is on a Gigabit Internet connection. And nope, the problem is not on my end, unfortunately. :(
 
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