Microsoft has made its newly redesigned Windows Store available to third-party app stores as well. Amazon and the Epic Games Store are the first two such apps that have been verified to be arriving to the Windows Store.
It is likely that companies such as Valve (Steam) and CDPR (GOG) will join forces, as well as major software developers and publishers such as Adobe, EA, and Ubisoft. Mr. Giorgio Sardo, general manager of the Microsoft Shop, acknowledged the planned Amazon and Epic Games Stores, and stated that the company looked forward to adding more similar games to its store in the coming months. " Microsoft's policy changes for the Windows Store now allow these third parties to keep 100 percent of the income generated by their programs if they use alternative payment platforms instead of traditional payment methods. Only if the program sold in the third-party store is a game will the money be split 88/12, and this is the only case where this is true. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney seemed to be in agreement with this.
It is noteworthy that Microsoft opens its store without charging a commission at a time when Apple and Epic are at strife over the payment of income. Apple withdrew the game Fortnite from its App Store when Epic Games implemented its own payment mechanism, which was deemed to be in violation of the regulations of the online sales platform. Epic intended to avoid the 30 percent remittance fee associated with in-app sales by developing its own payment mechanism.
Epic then filed a lawsuit against Apple. This month, a federal judge in the United States determined that Apple cannot restrict developers from referring to destinations other than the App Store to receive payments from customers. Epic, on the other hand, filed an appeal because the judge did not declare Apple to be a monopolist and because Epic was ordered to pay 3.6 million dollars (about 3.1 million euros) in damages for breach of contract.
Following the introduction of the new Microsoft Store, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney excitedly tweeted after announcement of the new Microsoft Store: "The Epic Games Store is coming to the Windows Store! Microsoft is leading the industry forward again with Windows."
The integration of the Amazon Appstore, is particularly interesting. In the Microsoft Store, when you search for something, it will include results from items in the Amazon Appstore – this level of integration is not currently accessible in any other third-party shop, but it is still very early in the process.
As a result of Microsoft's more open store strategy, a slew of brands and applications have already sprung up on the platform. The new Microsoft Store will be available to Windows 11 users starting on the 5th of October, when the operating system is released, and it will be made available to Windows 10 users at a later date.
