Microsoft adopts 10 “principles” for its app store, including letting developers choose a payment system for IAPs, that it says should be a model for others
Microsoft's move is the third step in a deliberate repricing of its own store: it first handed non-game developers an 85%-95% revenue share back in 2018, then followed with today's ten principles — the headline one being developer choice of payment system for in-app purchases — explicitly framed as a model other stores should adopt. With a description that reads as a dig at Apple and Google, the announcement is aimed less at Windows' modest store than at the two gatekeepers whose 30% take and mandatory in-app billing it implicitly contrasts against.
The arc continued after this piece: Microsoft later revamped the Windows 10 Store to allow unpackaged Win32 apps and third-party commerce platforms per the 2021 revamp reporting, and by early 2022 had expanded the list to eleven principles, openly framed as appeasing lawmakers and regulators in the Washington Post coverage. Today's announcement is the opening bid in that campaign.
First-order effects
Windows developers gain the immediate right to route in-app purchases through their own payment systems rather than Microsoft's, extending the fee relief already granted under the 85%-95% non-game revenue split.
Apple and Google are put on record as the named counterexamples: Microsoft is inviting developers and policymakers to compare their mandatory-billing models against its own.
Second-order effects
Because Microsoft's store carries little of the mobile economy, the principles cost it almost nothing while raising the political price for Apple and Google to defend their current take rates and payment mandates.
Developers gain a public benchmark to cite in negotiations and complaints against the dominant stores, shifting the argument from 'this is how platforms work' to 'one major platform already does otherwise.'
Third-order effects
If lawmakers treat Microsoft's framework as the acceptable baseline — as its own later eleven-principle expansion suggests was the intent — app store payment rules drift from private policy toward regulated territory, with take rates and billing choice becoming compliance questions rather than contract terms.
The pattern points toward gatekeepers competing on developer terms rather than distribution alone, which structurally favors any platform whose store is small enough that concessions are cheap.
The trend: App store economics are being renegotiated in public, with the weakest of the three gatekeepers setting the developer-friendly standard that regulators and rivals are then pressed to match.
Microsoft supports choice, competition and fairness on Windows. This is the freedom consumers and developers want and it's the future of app stores. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Epic Games has proudly supported Microsoft operating systems since 1991, and it's wonderful to see Microsoft formally codify its long-held principles in Windows as an open platform and a fair market for all developers and consumers. https://twitter.com/...
My favorite part of of the first thing: “Windows 10 is an open platform. Unlike some *other* 👀 popular digital platforms, developers are free to choose how they distribute their apps.” https://www.theverge.com/...
Microsoft has become the first major technology company to show support for a group of companies aimed at breaking Apple's control over its App Store, pledging to make its app store a more open platform. Via @ReedAlbergotti https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Microsoft adopted the Coalition for App Fairness' App Store Principles for its Windows App Store, which I think is great. This may put some pressure on Apple to do the same for the macOS App Store, which runs on a similarly open platform. (1/3) https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Apple is facing a wave of criticism of its App Store for allegedly anticompetitive behavior. Microsoft stepping into the ring today is a largely symbolic move but it definitely represents an escalation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/ ...
Microsoft takes aim at Apple in new app store principles: “We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer's choice of which payment system to use for processing purchases made in its app” https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Apple should submit an app that streams all Apple Arcade (with it's own payment method) on the Xbox, let's see what happens: Microsoft to adopt app store guiding principles for Windows, but not Xbox https://appleinsider.com/...
Microsoft hits out at Apple with its new Windows app store policies But these changes Will NOT impact the Xbox Store & MS will still charge devs 30% on Xbox Says more work is needed on console principles https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
“We will not block an app from Windows based on a developer's business model or how it delivers content and services, including whether content is installed on a device or streamed from the cloud.” https://twitter.com/...
1-Freedom to publish outside 2-Freedom to use cloud or client apps 3-Freedom of payment system 4-API info 5-Guaranteed access 6-Reasonable fees 7-Freedom to communicate with users 8-Own apps will compete 9-No usage of dev's info to compete 10-Clear rules and fair dispute process …
When Windows is being (accurately) portrayed as the platform for general purpose computing and an open software market, the reaction should be to realize just how bad the rest of the computing space has become in order for Windows of all platforms to shine like this. https://twit…
Comparing the Microsoft Store to Apple's App Store is reaching. A far reach. Apple's “walled garden” is what makes iOS stable, and lucrative to these same developers. 10 app store principles to promote choice, fairness and innovation https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Apps are an important part of the digital economy, and app stores have become a critical gateway. Today we adopted 10 principles for the Microsoft Store on Windows 10 that are designed to promote choice, ensure fairness and protect innovation. https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Why it matters: The @Microsoft move comes as antitrust regulators in the U.S. and around the world are spotlighting how both @Apple and @Google manage their mobile platforms and as some developers charge them with running their app stores unfairly. https://www.axios.com/...
Microsoft is adopting 10 principles for app stores - “building on the ideas and work of the Coalition for App Fairness” led by Spotify - “to promote choice, ensure fairness and promote innovation on Windows 10” https://blogs.microsoft.com/ ...
Microsoft is hitting out at Apple today over its App Store policies. It is revealing 10 commitments to Windows apps that go against the policies Apple uses on iOS, and it's making that very clear. Details here: https://www.theverge.com/... https://twitter.com/...
In a not-so-subtle dig at Apple and Google, Microsoft today announced a series of “principles” for its Windows 10 App Store — including letting users choose their own payment system for in-app purchases. https://www.axios.com/...