Microsoft has recently published 10 principles it is adopting to its Windows app store, with the intention of promoting “choice, fairness and innovation” to developers. Among these, the tech giant listed that it will not block competing stores or app specific business models on its platform.
As you may have guessed, these principles are the company’s response to the recent issues surrounding other app stores. Especially the ongoing legal battle that Epic Games is facing against Apple and Google. “Windows 10 is an open platform,” says Microsoft’s deputy general counsel Rima Alaily. “Unlike some other popular digital platforms, developers are free to choose how they distribute their apps.”
According to the company, Microsoft will give developers the freedom to choose whether to distribute their apps through the Windows digital storefront or competing stores on the platform. The newly published principles also noted that developers will be charged reasonable fees by the company, and will not enforce any policies that will require them to sell in-app items or services. Microsoft added that it will not use any “non-public information or data from its app store about a developer’s app to compete with it.”
However, the tech giant says that these new principles will only apply to its Windows Store and not its Xbox store. Rima Alaily explains that the reason behind this is due to video game consoles being “specialised devices optimised for a particular use.”
“Console makers such as Microsoft invest significantly in developing dedicated console hardware but sell them below cost or at very low margins to create a market that game developers and publishers can benefit from,” she added. “Given these fundamental differences in the significance of the platform and the business model, we have more work to do to establish the right set of principles for game consoles.”
To read further regarding the newly introduced Windows app store principles, please refer to the link provided below.
(Source: Microsoft [Official blog])
