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Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

blogs.windows.com

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Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#11

Post by taurath »

jawns wrote: post #2

Here's how the new payment structure works: > When Microsoft delivers a customer through other methods (tracked by an OCID), such as when the customer discovers the app in a Microsoft Store collection, through Microsoft Store search, or through any other Microsoft-owned properties, then you will receive 85 percent of the revenue from that purchase. > When there is no CID or OCID attributed to a purchase, in the insta…

So it’s worth 10% if someone uses the search bar in the store? Or if it’s on a top100 list? Those top100 are probably the apps that are most likely to push back against a 15% cut though.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#12

Post by ductionist »

tanilama wrote: post #9

It is not surprising that in terms of develop engagement, Microsoft is at a huge disadvantage. They need some differentiation to attract developers.

I think that's part of it. It's also a more open platform, so they have to compete with, say, Stripe or Digital River etc. on their commission percentages to get the big Windows software titles on board.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#13

Post by deyan »

nxc18 wrote: post #6

I feel like given the circumstances, Microsoft should probably make distribution free and collect no revenue, at least until the platform becomes popular. There are costs to targeting the Windows platform, especially if you're doing things their new preferred way (UWP). Primarily a slow, difficult to work with development kit. Lots of mysterious crashes that you can't do much about, lots of leaky abstractions over CO…

Are there any stats on how successful / unsuccessful their store is?

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#14

Post by beering »

yunyu wrote: post #10
nxc18 wrote: post #6

I feel like given the circumstances, Microsoft should probably make distribution free and collect no revenue, at least until the platform becomes popular. There are costs to targeting the Windows platform, especially if you're doing things their new preferred way (UWP). Primarily a slow, difficult to work with development kit. Lots of mysterious crashes that you can't do much about, lots of leaky abstractions over CO…

They've attempted to do that before: https://www.theverge.com/2013/3/19/4124548/microsoft-paying-... All that lead to was a bunch of similar looking apps of questionable quality flooding the store.

That's a little different, because there was guaranteed money for just creating an app. If Microsoft took a 0% cut, it wouldn't be that different for app spammers - they'd still have to get people to pay for the app at some point.

Ultimately I don't think the difference between 15%, 5%, or 0% is that meaningful to an app developer. It's not going to turn your small number of Windows customers into a huge number, and 95% of a small dollar amount is not much less than 100% of a small dollar amount.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#15

Post by youdontknowtho »

nxc18 wrote: post #6

I feel like given the circumstances, Microsoft should probably make distribution free and collect no revenue, at least until the platform becomes popular. There are costs to targeting the Windows platform, especially if you're doing things their new preferred way (UWP). Primarily a slow, difficult to work with development kit. Lots of mysterious crashes that you can't do much about, lots of leaky abstractions over CO…

They don't force you to do UWP any more. You can publish Win32 apps to the Store. For what it's wort, doesn't seem like lots of developers are doing it.

You can also publish command line apps to the store. Which is cool...

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#16

Post by nerdywordy »

I'd be interested to take the pulse of HN:

When you are looking for a new Windows app, does opening up the store even cross your mind?

I nearly always go to a web search + download first. Or if it's something dev-centric I look at scoop or chocolatey. The Windows Store is far, far behind in my mindshare.

There are a few glimmers of hope though. Python has begun to distribute via the store which is cool. And the Linux distros available are helpful in some edge cases or for a quick dev environment.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#17

Post by arkitaip »

This is an amazing deal for Win devs and one of many needed efforts if MS intends for the Microsoft Store to remain the number one platform for software downloads on Windows.

Currently I'm seeing much more dev excitement for platforms like Electron where you can slap a wrapper around your existing web tech but damn would I love to see a renaissance for native Windows apps. I feel like Microsoft botched native Windows dev by having many and competing eco systems, some which feel incredibly outdated. It says a lot when even they prefer Electron for stuff like Visual Studio Code.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#18

Post by burtonator »

That's cool... assuming you can get in:

https://getpolarized.io/2019/02/28/dear-app-stores-dont-bloc...

I found out that our app was crushed after 2 weeks of development.

Basically, they won't let us in because we use Electron.

Electron is developed in part (primarily) due to Github which they now own.

TWO WEEKS I spent porting to the MS App Store only to have them just crush us ...

It's great that I can make 95% of zero...

But seriously. If anyone from Microsoft is listening - please unblock us ;)

I'm considering submitting this as a PWA but it's missing a lot of features as a PWA.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#19

Post by rchaud »

I can understand Microsoft having an app store when Windows Phone and Windows RT were still around, but now Windows is all x86, so people aren't even installing desktop apps anymore outside of games and work-specific apps (say, R), that wouldn't appear on the app store anyway.

What's the most popular app on Windows Store anyway? I use Windows 10 every day and I've never noticed anything outside of Bejeweled, Candy Crush and other "mobile" type games.

Re: Updated Microsoft Store App Developer Agreement: New Revenue Share

#20

Post by hateful »

nerdywordy wrote: post #16

I'd be interested to take the pulse of HN: When you are looking for a new Windows app, does opening up the store even cross your mind? I nearly always go to a web search + download first. Or if it's something dev-centric I look at scoop or chocolatey. The Windows Store is far, far behind in my mindshare. There are a few glimmers of hope though. Python has begun to distribute via the store which is cool. And the Linux…

My issues with the store apps are that most of them act like "apps" and not like "programs/applications". For example, they close on their own with no warning. I tried to use the store version of the Pandora app, but it would be closed when I left it paused for too long. Same with Facebook's Messenger. I don't want that. I want to be able to control when I open and close a program.
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