What you need to know
- On Saturday, May 1, Windows Central put up a poll asking for PC gaming shopping preferences.
- The choices were the Microsoft Store, Steam, or either, depending on the situation.
- The Microsoft Store won by a narrow margin.
Over the weekend, Windows Central hosted a poll asking readers about their thoughts on the Microsoft Store versus Steam topic. It's a trending bit of news lately because Microsoft recently announced it'll be reducing its net sales revenue percentage to 12% for PC game sales on the Microsoft Store, leaving developers with 88%. Meanwhile, Steam continues to take 30%, which raised the question: Will the Microsoft Store or Steam be your go-to PC game store?
As of this post, the poll has netted the following results:
- "I will buy from the Microsoft Store" received 37.26% of the votes (411 votes total)
- "I will buy from Steam" received 35.27% of the votes (389 votes total)
- "I will buy from either store; developer revenue cut doesn't matter to me" received 27.47% of the votes (303 votes total)
So, there you have it. The Microsoft Store won, if only by a very narrow margin. It's a somewhat surprising result, even for a site named Windows Central, given just how dominant Steam is in the PC gaming sphere. The fact that Steam didn't absolutely crush the competition is a bit shocking and potentially a good sign for game developers, who can now rest assured that there is a big audience who may help them make more money via sales revenue on the Microsoft Store.
The comments on the poll post gave great insight as to how people made their voting choices. Many people pointed out that they go with the Microsoft Store simply because of its ties to Xbox Game Pass, which is one of the best values in gaming, while others mentioned the Microsoft Store as their preferred storefront because of Steam's DRM implementation methods. And lots of folks mentioned Steam as their favorite simply because of how much it has to offer consumers in terms of features and benefits, even if it gives less money to developers.
Overall, fascinating results! Keep checking Windows Central for future polls and surveys since we dig hearing opinions of all kinds and are sure to conduct more of these discussion pieces soon.
