Microsoft wants to bring Steam to the new Windows 11 app store

During yesterday's Windows 11 event, Microsoft talked upwards "democracy" and "sovereignty" for creators, emphasizing its intent to allow anyone and everyone to curate app stores on Windows, starting with Amazon's ain Android app store.

The possibilities therein are obvious. Microsoft noted that information technology wants other Android app stores to come up to Windows 11 too, which could mean the Galaxy Store from Samsung could eventually make its way across, every bit well equally Google Play itself. If app developers use 3rd-party monetization systems on Windows 11's app store, they become to keep an unprecedented 100% of the revenue, which is a direct shot to the likes of Apple and others.

In a new interview with The Verge'due south Tom Warren, Microsoft CPO Panos Panay elaborated farther that this includes curated storefronts on PC too, including Steam.

"Windows already in many ways hosts those stores, and if nosotros tin can host information technology through the Microsoft Shop and then of course. For sure, it means equally others desire to come up to the Store, they're very welcome. As a thing of fact, encouraged, and that's kind of why we're edifice out some of these policies."

Steam is the defacto store of option for PC gaming right now, owing to its mature content offering, superior content delivery machinery, and long and trusted history with the industry. Steam has also been a major driver of independent game development, bringing vast innovation to a space that was previously quite controlled and insular. Microsoft and others have emulated some of Steam'southward more open up policies towards game development over the years, but it could be argued that Microsoft has begun going a bit further.

Windows 11 Store Adobe Source: Microsoft Windows 11 will debut an all-new app store.

Microsoft will reduce its general revenue share to 12% for PC games in the nearly future, matching the Epic Game Store. This makes information technology a improve deal for most developers to build games for the Microsoft Shop outright, although it has nowhere nearly the same traffic as Steam.

Regardless, Microsoft'south messaging for Windows eleven is all near openness, and making it a platform for others to build their businsesses on top of. Microsoft'southward store policies will put pressure on competing platforms like Apple and Google Play to adopt a more friendly revenue sharing model potentially. Whether developers actually bite remains to be seen, of course. The Windows x app store is notorious for its depression-quality offering equally of writing. But all of that, hopefully, could be nigh to change.

Related: Windows 11 gaming announcements detailed

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