Private company

Microsoft Store

Logo: Microsoft, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons³

Digital distribution platform for Microsoft Windows, Xbox One and Series X/S

The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With Windows 10 1803, Microsoft merged its other distribution platforms (Windows Marketplace, Windows Phone Store, Xbox Music, Xbox Video, Xbox Store, and a web storefront also known as "Microsoft Store") into Microsoft Store, making it a unified distribution point for apps, console games, and digital videos.² Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

2011Founded¹

Websiteapps.microsoft.com

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The story

The Web-based storefront

Microsoft previously maintained a similar digital distribution system for software known as Windows Marketplace, which allowed customers to purchase software online. The marketplace tracked product keys and licenses, allowing users to retrieve their purchases when switching computers. Windows Marketplace was discontinued in November 2008. At this point, Microsoft opened a Web-based storefront called "Microsoft Store".

Windows 8

Microsoft first announced Windows Store, a digital distribution service for Windows at its presentation during the Build developer conference on September 13, 2011. Further details announced during the conference revealed that the store would be able to hold listings for both certified traditional Windows apps, as well as what were called "Metro-style apps" at the time: tightly-sandboxed software based on Microsoft design guidelines that are constantly monitored for quality and compliance. For consumers, Windows Store is intended to be the only way to obtain Metro-style apps. While announced alongside the "Developer Preview" release of Windows 8, Windows Store itself did not become available until the "Consumer Preview", released in February 2012.

Updates to apps published on the store after July 1, 2019, are no longer available to Windows 8 RTM users. Per Microsoft lifecycle policies, the RTM version of Windows 8 has been unsupported since January 12, 2016, excluding some Embedded editions, as well its server equivalent, Windows Server 2012.

Windows 8.1

An updated version of Windows Store was introduced in Windows 8.1. Its home page was remodeled to display apps in focused categories (such as popular, recommended, top free and paid, and special offers) with expanded details, while the ability for apps to automatically update was also added. Windows 8.1 Update also introduced other notable presentation changes, including increasing the top app lists to return 1000 apps instead of 100 apps, a "picks for you" section, and changing the default sorting for reviews to be by "most popular".

Updates to apps published on the Store after June 30, 2023, are no longer available to Windows 8.1. Per Microsoft lifecycle policies, the Windows 8.1 Update reached the end of its extended support on January 10, 2023, excluding some Embedded editions, as well its server equivalent, Windows Server 2012 R2.

Windows 10

Windows 10 was released with an updated version of the Windows Store, which merged Microsoft's other distribution platforms (Windows Marketplace, Windows Phone Store, Xbox Video and Xbox Music) into a unified store front for Windows 10 on all platforms, offering apps, games, music, film, TV series, themes, and ebooks. In June 2017, Spotify became available in the Windows Store.

In September 2017, Microsoft began to re-brand Windows Store as Microsoft Store, with a new icon carrying the Microsoft logo. Xbox Store was merged into this new version of the platform. This is in line with Microsoft's platform convergence strategy on all Windows 10-based operating systems.

Web apps and traditional desktop software can be packaged for distribution on Windows Store. Desktop software distributed through Windows Store are packaged using the App-V system to allow sandboxing.

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In February 2018, Microsoft announced that Progressive Web Apps would begin to be available in the Microsoft Store, and Microsoft would automatically add selected quality progressive web apps through the Bing crawler or allow developers to submit Progressive Web Apps to the Microsoft Store.

Starting from Windows 10 version 1803, fonts can be downloaded and installed from the Microsoft Store.

Windows 11

In Windows 11, Microsoft Store received an updated user interface, and a new pop-up designed to handle installation links from websites. Microsoft also announced a number of changes to its policies for application submissions to improve flexibility and make the store more "open", including supporting "any kind of app, regardless of app framework and packaging technology", and the ability for developers to freely use first- or third-party payment platforms (in non-game software only) rather than those provided by Microsoft.

Windows Server

The Microsoft Store is not installed by default in Windows Server 2012 or later versions of Windows Server. Apps that would normally be available in the Store can be installed through sideloading.

From Wikipedia’s article on Microsoft Store, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.⁴

Products and brands

Microsoft Store is the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps to users. Sideloading apps from outside the store is supported on Windows 10 on an opt-in basis, but Windows 8 only allows sideloading to be enabled if the device is running the Enterprise edition of Windows 8 on a domain. Sideloading on Windows RT, Windows 8 Pro, and on Windows 8 Enterprise computers without a domain affiliation, requires the purchase of additional licenses through volume licensing. Individual developers are able to register for US$19 and companies for US$99.

Initially, Microsoft took a 30% cut of app sales until it reached US$25,000 in revenue, after which the cut dropped to 20%. On January 1, 2015, the reduction in cut at $25,000 was removed, and Microsoft takes a 30% cut of all app purchases, regardless of overall sales. As of August 1, 2021, Microsoft takes a 12% cut of app sales. Third-party transactions are also allowed, of which Microsoft does not take a cut.

A range of multimedia content (music, books, movies) were formerly available on the Microsoft Store. They were gradually shut between 2017 to 2025, leaving only the apps & games storefront remaining.

Windows apps and games

In 2015, over 669,000 apps were available on the store, including apps for Windows NT, Windows Phone, and UWP apps, which work on both platforms. Categories containing the largest number of apps are "Games", "Entertainment", "Books and Reference", and "Education". The majority of the app developers have one app. Both free and paid apps can be distributed through Microsoft Store, with paid apps ranging in cost from US$0.99 to $999.99. Developers from 120 countries can submit apps to Microsoft Store. Apps may support any of 109 languages, as long as they support one of 12 app certification languages.

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From 2016 to 2019, most Microsoft Studios games ported to PC were distributed exclusively via Microsoft Store. Microsoft later abandoned this strategy in May 2019, amid criticism of limitations faced by UWP-based games, and a desire to also sell games on competing storefronts such as Steam. The new Xbox app subsequently became the main frontend for PC games available via Microsoft Store, and also integrates subscription service PC Game Pass.

Music

On October 2, 2017, Microsoft announced that the sale of digital music on the Microsoft Store would cease on December 31 after the discontinuation of Groove Music Pass. Users were able to transfer their music to Spotify until January 31, 2018.

Books

Books bought from the Microsoft Store were formerly accessible on the EdgeHTML-based Microsoft Edge. The ability to open ePub e-books was removed during the shift to the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge.

On April 2, 2019, Microsoft announced that the sale of e-books on the Microsoft Store had ceased. Due to DRM licenses that would not be renewed, all books became inaccessible by July 2019, and Microsoft automatically refunded all users that had purchased books via the service.

Movies and TV shows

Movies and television shows were available for purchase or rental, depending on availability.

Content could be played on the Microsoft Movies & TV app (available for Windows 10, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and Xbox X/S), or Xbox Video app (available for Windows 8/RT PCs and tablets, and Windows Phone 8). In the United States, a Microsoft account can be linked to the Movies Anywhere digital locker service (separate registration required), which allows purchased content to be played on other platforms (e.g. MacOS, Android, iOS).

Microsoft Movies & TV was available in the following 21 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. The purchase of TV shows was not supported in Belgium.

On July 18, 2025, Microsoft announced the closure of its Movies & TV storefront after 12 years of operations. Users who live outside the US can continue to use the Movies & TV app to play previously purchased content until further notice. Microsoft recommended users who live in the US to use Movies Anywhere to sync their Microsoft-purchased content to other supported services such as Amazon Video or Apple TV.