Microsoft declares war on Steam and Epic

• Steam Declaration and Epic Store War: Microsoft on Attack.
• Starting in August, game providers will receive a file in the Microsoft Store Higher revenue sharing.
• Instead of 70 percent, developers then get 88 percent of net sales – much more than Steam.

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Platforms like Valves Steam or the Epic Store play a major role in distributing digital games. Microsoft He wants to play in the top gaming league in the future, thus increasing the attractiveness of the company’s online game store. How? With more money for developers.

The commissions that PC game providers have to give to the group are dropping dramatically. In other words, developers are getting more money from Microsoft Store sales.

Instead of 70 percent of net sales as before, 88 percent will go directly to game manufacturers as of August 1. Microsoft announced this at Company Blog On the business portal LinkedIn.

Microsoft makes Steam u

Steam in particular is likely to put Microsoft’s move under pressure. With Valve’s online platform, developers receive between 70 (in most cases) and 80 percent, depending on sales.

In the Epic Games Store, developers have had the same profit margin since its launch at the end of 2018 as in the future with Microsoft. However, Epic will continue developing enthusiastically when Microsoft introduces the same attractive conditions starting in August.

Confident dealing with Steam and Co. Resulting not least from Microsoft’s successes in the PC gaming arena. The company serves the PC gaming market at the highest level with its tech-acclaimed “Flight Simulator” and the upcoming “Age of Empires 4”.

Exclusive culturally venerable Xbox titles like “Halo” and “Gears of War” have found their way to Windows PCs. Additionally, Microsoft recently showed, for example by purchasing Bethesda developer studio, that it intends to establish itself more aggressively in the gaming sector.

Xbox Game Pass, which provides access to a variety of titles for a monthly fee, has been hugely popular among the community. Streaming technology, which was introduced at the time as Project xCloud and is now part of Game Pass, is also set to play an increasingly important role. Google demonstrated cloud gaming with Stadia.

Microsoft has been in a positive mood since its third-quarter annual report became known. Because it shows that income in the gaming sector increased by 50% from January to March 2021.

Hardware sales were up 232 percent year-on-year, mainly due to new generation Xbox Series X / S consoles. Xbox content revenue increased 34 percent.
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