Microsoft Store matches Epic Games' 12% store fee in a bid to compete with other digital retail platforms

[StDragon]

11 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

I don't think it will take off even with all the improvements though because Microsoft has poisoned the "brand".

What's the point anyways? Games will be purchased from Steam to manage the library and sync game progress. Apps are downloaded to the phone. Vendors such as Adobe, AutoDesk, and Microsoft's own 365 portal have their own way of managing apps.

[jagdtigger]

MS just keep on beating a long dead horse..... *sigh*

[LAwLz]

1 hour ago, StDragon said:

What's the point anyways? Games will be purchased from Steam to manage the library and sync game progress. Apps are downloaded to the phone. Vendors such as Adobe, AutoDesk, and Microsoft's own 365 portal have their own way of managing apps.

I have a quite long list of programs on my desktop. If I could get and manage all of them from a single place rather than have to visit 20+ websites, download a bunch of installers and click "next next next" for each and every one of them, it would make life a lot easier for me.

It is also a lot easier to tell people:

Quote

download VLC from the store

 

instead of saying

Quote

Open your web browser, then search VLC on Google, then click the first link, unless it's an ad then click the second link, yes the website should be called videolan.org, then click download VLC and then run the installer, yes you need to allow it to be saved, yes, you need to find the installer now, it should be in the download folder. Okay, now that the wizard is runinng click next a bunch of times and it should be installed.

 

[Kisai]

1 hour ago, jagdtigger said:

MS just keep on beating a long dead horse..... *sigh*

The horse they shot twice (windows phone, windows rt)

[Bombastinator]

Microsoft has been making noises lately like their App Store was crazy money.  Sure few people here use it but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t get used. Might mean they sell more productivity stuff with it than games.  Another thought is microsoft is a major software developer as well so anything they themselves sell on their App Store is 100% money.  I suspect a breakdown of what microsoft makes on what on its store might prove relevant.

Edited April 30, 2021 by Bombastinator

[jagdtigger]

8 hours ago, LAwLz said:

If I could get and manage all of them from a single place rather than have to visit 20+ websites

https://www.lifewire.com/free-software-updater-programs-2625200

[RejZoR]

10 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I think it has gotten better. Way better in fact.

Sadly it started out at "holy shit this is actually 90% malware and so limited no serious developer uses it" to "wow this is bad and pointless".

 

If the rumors are true then I think the store might actually be good. It will become more like a repo than its own system with special packaging requirements and the like. Some even say that it will be based on Winget. If that's true then I actually have high hopes for it. I don't think it will take off even with all the improvements though because Microsoft has poisoned the "brand".

It's not. Beginning with retarded language design of Windows if you're not an US user. I'm from non-English country, but I prefer to use English as Windows language because computer words in my language are all very long and sound weird and I just prefer to use English instead. And my Windows 10 is a trainwreck of mishmashed languages even though I've clearly selected English (US) everywhere, but the dumb OS has mind of its own just because I have regional settings set to my language so it shows date correctly and uses € as currency. Windows is in English, but all the apps including Microsoft Store are half English and half Slovenian and it just looks beyond retarded and it's partially reason why I avoid using it. It's really that bad.

 

The other is inability to remove crap from "My library". You can only hide. All the countless trash apps that you try and find out they are trash. Just polluting my list and are back every time I reinstall Windows.

 

Thirdly, even legit listed apps with name that actually corresponds to screenshots are apps that are free but are suspiciously released by someone else. 7zip is one of such but uploader at least credits Igor Pavlov and doesn't pretend about anything. Then there are apps like popular Foobar2000 which is uploaded by "Resolute". Which I have no clue if it's the original author or not. So I just avoid it entirely. And it's been like this since Windows 8 when they introduced this thing. Which is why I say it hasn't changed since back then.

 

And don't get me started how clumsy interface is, how listings and descriptions are all over the place, it's slow to navigate, it's slow to download things from, it's just a very bad experience and I don't think changing file structure for delivery will mend that. It's just so many things wrong with it and if there was steady progression through years, I'd even believe it. But I've seen ZERO progress since Windows 8. And that's worrying.

 

Like I said, I'm only using it for Paint.NET because I bought the license to support the dev and I prefer the automatic updating because its own updater, while it works always popped up when I wanted to edit something and since I like to have things always fully updated it was a clumsy process. MusicBee doesn't have auto updater so you had to manually check and also manually install it which was tedious task. They both do this automatically in the background. And surprisingly, both are actually maintained by original author(s). Paint.NET does have a stupid limitation which is that I can't put shortcut to it in the shell:sendto folder so I can right click and send image to it for editing. I have to manually open Paint.NET and dragged in. And this is because of stupid Microsoft Store apps structure. And you don't even have access to it to do it manually as its binary shortcut points to nothing usable for user.

 

Of all things, only thing that "new" update will maybe fix is the ability to use SendTo for Paint.NET. And that will be about it. I'll still have to deal with retarded mishmashed languages, weird, slow and unintuitive interface and just lack of app support by original authors. I'd love to see Microsoft Store to become a default go to repository for all my app needs because it would simplify updating of those apps, but I just don't see it happening after it was neglected for so long and everyone just stopped giving a f**k about it.

[LAwLz]

33 minutes ago, RejZoR said:

It's not. 

What? I have no idea what you are replying to. I said the store has gotten better but it's still shit and pointless, and your response is "no it's not because I think it is bad because of x y and z". 

I feel like you didn't read my post past the "it had gotten better" and assumed I said it was good. 

[RejZoR]

29 minutes ago, LAwLz said:

What? I have no idea what you are replying to. I said the store has gotten better but it's still shit and pointless, and your response is "no it's not because I think it is bad because of x y and z". 

I feel like you didn't read my post past the "it had gotten better" and assumed I said it was good. 

No, I said it literally hasn't changed one single bit since Windows 8 when it was first introduced. And if they did change anything it was so subtle it literally isn't visible or noticeable.

[LAwLz]

2 hours ago, RejZoR said:

No, I said it literally hasn't changed one single bit since Windows 8 when it was first introduced. And if they did change anything it was so subtle it literally isn't visible or noticeable.

It has changed, and it has changed a lot. Not minor things. I'm talking major updates like allowing Win32 programs in the store (if packaged as appx), allowing PWA programs, hell, it didn't even support automatic updates of programs when it first launched. 

Those are not small changes either. It's just that the store was so ass when it first launched I think people assume some of the features was there. They have improved it a lot. It's just that it was so god damn awful when it first launched even with all the improvements it's still shit. 

[Bombastinator]

12 hours ago, James Evens said:

Very basic question: Why should I care about store fees if the games cost in the end anyway the same across the various stores?

Just compare epic and steam pricing (spoiler: they are identical while steam offers more features/superior launcher).

 

Also who cares about the windows store? There isn't much/any good content to beginn with and prices aren't shown in the search page ("included in game pass") making shopping annoying.

Clearly they want you to buy a gamepass then as “included in game pass” means free, IF you have a gamepass.  Is it annoying of microsoft to push gamepass so hard they make their store near useless for people buying games? Yes.  Very much.  Might be kind of stupid too, as including the prices would point out how much a gamepass user is saving. Unless of course they’re NOT saving and pointing that out causes problems with selling gamepasses.

[Kotonoha]

did i heard vlc?

[AlexOak]

It seems that console will also be getting this as well. 

https://kotaku.com/microsoft-is-looking-to-reduce-its-xbox-store-cut-from-1846807134

 

[Mark Kaine]

On 4/29/2021 at 7:23 PM, Delicieuxz said:

Though Microsoft Store is probably many people's last choice to make a purchase from (or is even non-eligible for consideration of a purchase),

True - i dont use them , never have , but i think as much we all like to shit on them they're probably pretty successful all things considered, they offer after all exactly the kind of games the typical PC (or Xbox) player likes, MSFS, "gears" "forza" "halo" etc… that stuff sells! (also Dolby Atmos etc, big deal im sure )

 

 

[Andreas Lilja]

Hoping they force Valve's hand, Ubisoft might come back.

[Andreas Lilja]

They've backtracked regarding the Xbox.

 

https://www.theverge.com/2021/5/2/22415712/microsoft-xbox-store-cut-epic-games-court-documents

[Spindel]

I've used MS store once, I had to download a codec to be able to watch HEIC files (why the hell isn't that standard in the OS???), horrible interface weird design choices like the codec I needed you either pay for it or go through a web link (again to MS store) and download it for free. Like WTF?

 

I'm a fan of App stores, everything in one place content that hopefully is a bit curated to remove harmful elements. But that is coming from mac, after using MS store once i never wan't to touch it again. (oh and the ads in MS store, don't forget the ads, how the hell can you have so much ads in your own store) 

[Bombastinator]

10 hours ago, Andreas Lilja said:

Hoping they force Valve's hand, Ubisoft might come back.

This is not out of the realm of possible.  What would likely do it is either legal action, or game developers no longer using steam to the point that steam has to reduce fees to keep customers.

[Kisai]

10 hours ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

Damn. I would sue Apple after this one. That has absolutely nothing to do with Epic vs Apple, and are exposing business deals.

Read the article

 

Quote

There is a proposal currently under Gaming Leadership Team consideration to adopt 88 / 12 as a public PC games revenue share for all games in exchange for the grant of streaming rights to Microsoft,

 

So in a way this is strong-arming game publishers/developers to permit their Cloud gaming service to save money.

 

Which, fine, but unless the publisher/developer can promise the music/assets won't cause problems for "streamers" (eg Twitch and Youtube), streaming has to be all-inclusive. I think this might have been part of the plan when they still owned Mixer. Perhaps publishers balked at handing unlimited streaming to Microsoft.

 

 

 

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

What makes you think I didn't read it? 

It is business related, it was private stuff under consideration, that has nothing to do with Apple case, got public due to Apple, and could impact Microsoft...

 

I would sue them. And would call other companies to boycott Apple... Just allow side loading apps like everyone else and be done with it.

Ah.  The side loading thing.  Yeah, the thing is side loading is also a big security risk for large companies.  It’s so big a lot of companies don’t ALLOW phones that can side load to connect with their machines.

[Bombastinator]

1 hour ago, gabrielcarvfer said:

You obviously can't sideload stuff on company phones, which are not yours anyway. But your own phone? Come on. 

And how do you differentiate them?  “Can’t” and “shouldn’t” are different things.  Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean people won’t do it.

Edited May 3, 2021 by Bombastinator

[LAwLz]

11 hours ago, Bombastinator said:

And how do you differentiate them?  “Can’t” and “shouldn’t” are different things.  Just because something is illegal doesn’t mean people won’t do it.

Enterprise phones are often not just regular phones taken out of the box. They are managed by an MDM tool (or at least SHOULD be).

Using that tool you can control pretty much anything on the device, just like you can prevent unauthorized programs from being installed on a domain joined Windows machine.

It would be trivial to add a "do not allow sideloaded applications" in an MDM tool. Hell, they already have far more complicated settings such as blocking and allowing individual apps from the app store using MDM tool.

 

[Bombastinator]

7 hours ago, LAwLz said:

Enterprise phones are often not just regular phones taken out of the box. They are managed by an MDM tool (or at least SHOULD be).

Using that tool you can control pretty much anything on the device, just like you can prevent unauthorized programs from being installed on a domain joined Windows machine.

It would be trivial to add a "do not allow sideloaded applications" in an MDM tool. Hell, they already have far more complicated settings such as blocking and allowing individual apps from the app store using MDM tool.

 

Apparently mdm bypass is a thing though.

[Quackers101]

price increase of 200% and more DRM when they "win" or over with this trend.

like... microsoft store? please uninstall.