Yesterday we told you about a survey of game developers, and we said that the vast majority of developers find Steam’s 30% share of sales high. Steam isn’t the only digital store to use a 30-70 share rate, of course, the Microsoft Store, PlayStation Store, Nintendo eShop used the same rate. So we can say that Steam’s 30-70 ratio had actually become the industry standard.
The Epic Games Store received a lot of attention from developers with its 12-88 share, and it was the most important argument of those who wanted the share of stores to decrease. Steam gets a 30% share of sales up to $10 million, a 25% share of $10 million to $50 million, and a 20% share of $50 million.
On top of this news, Microsoft announced last night that the deduction for PC games sold in the Microsoft Store has now been reduced from 30% to 12%. So it’s the same as the Epic Games Store.
Matt Booty, president of Xbox Game Studios, said, “Game developers are at the heart of delivering these beautiful games to our players, and we want them to succeed on our platforms. That’s why we’re updating the Microsoft Store terms for PC game developers. From August 1st, the developer’s share of net income from PC game sales in the Microsoft Store will increase from 70% to 88%. This unconditional change will enable developers to offer more games to more players and achieve greater commercial success.”
But why this change is limited to PC developers, there was no explanation for that part.
