Also, for a short period, it seemed that Microsoft will pull a dev-friendly move on consoles to reduce its revenue share, but the Redmond-based company might have had second thoughts.

Microsoft is part of the case between Epic Games and Apple. Court Listener has published a few documents that can be downloaded, and via these, we learned what Microsoft is up to. The reason why the company known for Windows is involved is that Microsoft stood by Epic Games when Apple tried to block the Apple SDK (software development kit) access to Unreal Engine developers. From August 1, Microsoft will leave 88% of the revenue of a game’s sale via the Microsoft Store at the developers, reducing its cut to just 12%, similarly to what the Epic Games Store is doing (it’s currently 30%).

But here’s a document from January that says how Microsoft might be going for the 88% for the developers approach on Xbox, too, which would undercut Sony and Nintendo (who both seem to go with the 30% margin, which is effectively an industry standard at this point). But Microsoft first denied this to The Verge, saying that they don’t plan to change the revenue split on Xbox „at this time.” But WCCFTech also got a short statement: „We will not be updating the revenue split for console publishers.” It means that Phil Spencer’s team might have pulled a 180° since January… and we still put a question mark in the title, as things could have changed here, too.

But let’s talk about S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 as well. Another document, labelled as an „Executive Portfolio Update,” shares exclusivity deals for some ID@Xbox (indie games published by Microsoft) titles. According to the document, GSC Game World’s game would see a three-month exclusivity deal on Xbox Series and PC, and only then would the Ukrainians be capable of launching the long-awaited S.T.A.L.K.E.R. sequel on PlayStation 5. Although the document claims a Q4 2021 launch window, it is from August 2020. Things could have changed since, but seeing a Holiday season arrival looks plausible.

Two more things: The Gunk has a perpetual exclusive agreement (meaning it will never get a PlayStation version), and Tetris Effect: Connected has a six-month exclusivity window for Microsoft.

Source: WCCFTech