Universal Windows Platform (UWP) apps probably seemed like when Microsoft unveiled the idea in 2014.
Basically UWP apps are the Windows 10 follow-up to the “Metro” apps designed for Windows 8 and distributed via the Microsoft Store, the idea was to create a class of apps that could run across a range of devices including Windows PCs, Windows 10 Mobile phones, and the Xbox One and HoloLens.
But Windows 10 Mobile is dead and after years of not really taking off, it’s starting to look like UWP apps might be on life support.
The latest indication? Microsoft has announced that it will kill off its Microsoft Ad Monetization platform for UWP apps on June 1st, 2020.
The company says it decided to pull the plug “primarily because it is no longer viable for us to continue operating the product at current levels.”
In other words, Microsoft isn’t making enough money by taking a cut of ads displayed on UWP apps to justify continuing to support the ad platform. And that suggests people aren’t really using ad-supported UWP apps enough for it to be worth Microsoft’s while.
While UWP app developers could find other ways to monetize their apps such as charging an up-front fee or switching to another ad delivery mechanism, that would be a hassle. And it may not be a great long-term investment because if Microsoft doesn’t care enough about UWP to continue serving ads to UWP apps, it may just be a matter of time before the company pulls the plug on the app platform altogether.
According to Windows Central, some developers say Microsoft’s decision has already prompted them to stop developing new UWP apps.
For now, Microsoft notes that developers who make any money from the Microsoft Ad Monetization Platform for UWP apps between now and May 31st, 2020 will receive payment for all revenue earned. But the platform will shut down on June 1st, and all ad performance data and other historical information will be removed on June 8th.
via MSPowerUser
It’s a lot better than a few things they could have done.
Like just selling all the ad space to google to run whatever ads google wants on it.
And then selling detailed telemetry data to google.
And then just giving up on even chromium edge and replacing it with Chrome but just as impossible to uninstall.
And then android apps replace UWP apps.
And then win32 applications appear on the Play Store when the play store is installed in windows.
And then “sildeloading” software you downloaded from wherever that isn’t the Play Store becomes a “developer option”.
And then Microsoft folds for some reason, sells Windows to Google, and is itself bought by Tencent.
And then Windows and Chromeos become indistinguishable, possibly even merging into some 17GB dual-kernel monstrosity. One or both would be killed off then.
Of course things can always get that bad some other way!
I don’t use ad-supported nor in-app purchase apps anyway on both my Windows devices and smartphone. However, I do use apps that cost money directly or indirectly. For example, I use the Netflix Windows app to get offline video support. If it wasn’t for that, I wouldn’t subscribe to Netflix.
I hope this doesn’t mean the end of Xbox/Windows cross platform support. I only have a few games that have it but its nice to not have to buy the same game for every platform (glares at Minecraft in disgust)