Microsoft appears to have chosen to go the ‘good guy’ route in regards to the profit split for developers selling games through the Microsoft Store platform. The store has sported a consistent 70/30 split between game developers and the Windows company, respectively, though that split will improve to 88/12 in favor of the developers starting later this year, matching the deal currently in place between the Epic Games Store and its developers.

This exciting news comes by way of the Xbox Wire blog site, wherein it’s revealed that the new profit split will go into effect on August 1, 2021. “Game developers are at the heart of bringing great games to our players, and we want them to find success on our platforms,” the relevant statement reads. “That’s why today we’re announcing that we’re updating our Microsoft Store terms for PC game developers.”

As part of our commitment to empower every PC game creator to achieve more, starting on August 1 the developer share of Microsoft Store PC games sales net revenue will increase to 88%, from 70%. A clear, no-strings-attached revenue share means developers can bring more games to more players and find greater commercial success from doing so.”

Microsoft getting onboard with Epic Games’ profit split numbers will undoubtedly put more pressure on Valve, which still offers developers a 70/30 split. The profit split was ameliorated a few years back when Valve implemented tiered bonuses to further incentivize “big game” developers based on how much total revenue a game makes. This helped mitigate the staggering amount of money some developers were handing over to Steam per the agreement, though it has done little for indie game developers, with few exceptions.

Now that Microsoft has seemingly seen the light and chosen to offer its developers a better cut, here’s hoping it’ll convince Valve to follow suit. This is Valve we’re talking about, though, so chances are such a change will happen around the time Half Life 3 gets an official reveal.

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