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Microsoft undercuts Apple and Google to offer Windows 10 app developers more money

Microsoft undercuts Apple and Google to offer Windows 10 app developers more money

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A dramatic change to 95 percent revenue share

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Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

Microsoft’s Windows Store has been struggling to attract developers for years now, and Microsoft is now radically overhauling how it takes a revenue cut from app developers. At Microsoft’s Build developers conference this week, the software maker is changing its Microsoft Store policies to allow developers to keep 95 percent of the revenue from their apps. This is a big change from the 70 percent that developers currently get to keep, and it’s clearly designed to encourage developers to create apps for Windows 10.

There are some catches for developers, though. The new 95 percent cap will only be available on consumer apps and not games, and Microsoft switches it to 85 percent if the company helped a developer obtain a customer through marketing in the Microsoft Store. Still, the change from 70 percent to 95 percent is significantly better than Google’s Play Store and Apple’s App Store. Google and Apple both offer 70 percent to developers, and they increase that to 85 percent if a consumer subscribes to an app for a year or more.

The new Microsoft Store policy will apply to apps for Windows 10, Windows Mixed Reality, Windows Phone, and Surface Hub, but will exclude the Xbox One. Microsoft says it will make the 95 percent revenue share structure available later this year, and it will apply to all apps currently available on the store.