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Microsoft opens app store

by on29 September 2021


While Google and Apple try to lock them down


While Apple and Google are fighting regulators to keep their app store monopolies, Software King of the World Microsoft is doing the opposite.

Microsoft is opening up its own app store in Windows even further today, inviting third-party app stores to integrate into the Microsoft Store. It’s a significant change that will see both Amazon and Epic Games Store discoverable in the Microsoft Store in the coming months.

Microsoft store general manager Giorgio Sardo said that like any other app, third-party storefront apps will have a product detail page, which can be found via search or by browsing, so that users can easily find and install it with the same confidence as any other app in the Microsoft Store on Windows.

“Today, we are sharing that Amazon and Epic Games will bring their storefront apps to the Microsoft Store over the next few months, and we look forward to welcoming other stores as well in the future.”

The news comes months after Microsoft announced some major changes to the Microsoft Store. Not only is the store being overhauled for Windows 11 and eventually Windows 10, but Microsoft will also let developers keep 100 percent of the revenue from apps if they use alternative payment platforms. The only exception is that this doesn’t apply to games.

Head of Windows and devices, Panos Panay, recently revealed to The Verge in June that Microsoft is open to Steam and other third-party stores being part of its new Windows 11 app store.

“I really want this experience where you go to the store, you type the app in, and you get the app you want”, said Panay earlier this year.

Microsoft’s commitment to being an “open Store for an open platform” will now allow for any third-party storefront apps to be listed in the Microsoft Store on Windows. That doesn’t mean separate apps and games from rival stores will be discoverable and installable, but the storefront apps will be listed in search results.

Microsoft’s more open app store policies have already had a big impact on the Microsoft Store. Popular apps like Discord, Zoom, VLC, TeamViewer, and Visual Studio Code are all now listed in the Microsoft Store. There are even Progressive Web Apps (PWA) from Reddit, Wikipedia, TikTok, Tumblr, and more. Any browser can now be listed in the Microsoft Store, too, and both Opera and Yandex Browser have taken advantage of Microsoft’s new policies.

Last modified on 29 September 2021
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