When it comes to digital storefronts, there is a cut of the money that is taken out from each sale and given to the digital marketplace host. This means that Steam, Epic Games Store, and Microsoft, to name a few, will be getting a cut of profits while the developers receive their share. It sounds like a pretty standard means of doing business, but when Epic Games Store wanted to sway more developers to use their marketplace exclusively, they introduced a better revenue split. Today, Microsoft has revealed that they will be matching the revenue split on their Microsoft PC storefront.
Originally, the standard for marketplaces was to claim 30% of the revenue of a sale. This is a good chunk of change but Epic Games Store came onto the scene boasting that they would only take 12%. This would make it far more profitable for developers to release their games exclusively through the Epic Games Store digital marketplace when it comes to PC games. Now it looks like Microsoft will be joining in on the revenue split by also only taking 12% of the revenue which gives players far more profits as well when they release their games through the storefront.
The change is not set to take place until the first of August. However, more developers are looking at Valve to see if they will also match the revenue split. Currently, Steam sill takes 30% of the revenue split but after milestones, the amount of revenue Steam takes drops down. With more competitors joining in with the new standard of 12%, it would seem likely that Valve would eventually fold and also go with the flow.
Since this is newly announced information from Microsoft, we’ll have to keep a close eye on Valve to see if they start making changes. Meanwhile, developers only have a few months to wait before they can take part in the new revenue split being offered through Microsoft.
