Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 release for PC's is ruffling
the feathers of independent developers.
The Redmond giant plans to not only take a cut of all sales made through
the Microsoft Store but also require Metro apps to be sold exclusively through it.
It appears that Microsoft is taking a page from Apple's
playbook by reportedly planning to take a
30% cut of sales through its Microsoft Store with the upcoming Windows 8. However, according to Microsoft when an app reaches
$25,000 in sales the percentage would drop to 20.
This is where the supposed controversy springs from with
recent statements from Valve's Gabe Newell and Blizzard's Rob Pardo respectively
calling the upcoming Windows 8 "A
catastrophe"" and "Not
awesome for Blizzard either."
Discomfort among the gaming bigwigs may concern Microsoft's closed
platform of the Windows Store (reminiscent of Apple's) forcing higher prices or cuts into profit margins
for developers who choose to sell via
the channel.
Microsoft isn't placing any restrictions on Windows 8 for
products obtained through non-Microsoft channels, however. That leaves developers free to develop
outside of the Metro interface and bypass the Microsoft Store. That might relegate them to a
"perceived" lesser Windows 8
experience but not close it off to them.
With Metro the centerpiece of the new OS, apps that don't use the
channel have limited access to the new UI.
In testing on Windows 8 Release Preview there were no major
issues with Valve's Steam or EA's Origin clients. Both operate independent of the Metro
interface as desktop applications and in Origin's case created a shortcut tile
in Metro that opened on the desktop.
Considering the price premiums demanded by publishers like
Valve and Activision Blizzard for titles of arguable quality it's no surprise
that Microsoft would want a piece of the action if they develop for Metro. With new gaming revenue models based on
in-game purchases and add-on DLC to pad revenue, the potential windfall for
Microsoft could be quite large.
Rumblings from independent developers may be an attempt to
sow the seeds of a new anti-trust complaint against Microsoft because of the
closed nature of Metro applications.
Still, so long as the desktop exists in new versions of
Windows, Microsoft can avoid the anti-trust arguments of the past just as apple
has done on the Mac platform. Should
future versions of Windows remove the alternatives to its own marketplace,
however, it's likely the question will again be raised.
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