The announcement came during the Build 2025 conference, where the company revealed a comprehensive strategy aimed at strengthening its relationship with app creators and modernising its digital storefront.

Previously, developers had to pay a registration fee, around $19, before they could publish to the Microsoft Store. With this new policy, the cost attached is being removed entirely. 

While seemingly a small figure, this means Microsoft is making it easier for independent developers to access its ecosystem and reach its base of over 250 million monthly active users.

Apple still demands $99 annually for App Store participation, while Google requires a $25 one-time fee for Google Play. In contrast, Microsoft is removing entry fees and also improving the developer experience with a set of practical updates.

First, Microsoft is revamping how Win32 applications, legacy apps that use .EXE or .MSI installers, interact with the store. Developers can now push updates directly through the Microsoft Store infrastructure, ending the need for users to rely on third-party update prompts. 

The Store will also begin showing when apps were last updated and introduce a non-interactive progress bar for installations, two features long requested by developers.

Added to these, Microsoft is introducing tools like App campaigns, which are designed to help developers promote their apps directly within the Store. While some major applications, such as Google Chrome and Google Drive, remain absent, new entries like Fantastical, Perplexity, and ChatGPT have recently been added. Notion is expected to join them soon.

Microsoft clarified that while onboarding is now free, the Store’s commerce fees remain unchanged. Developers using Microsoft’s payment infrastructure will still pay 15% on app sales and 12% for games. Those using external payment systems will continue to retain 100% of their revenue for non-gaming apps.

I see this as a calculated and timely initiative. The legal and public pressure on Apple’s closed system is growing, and Microsoft is seizing the moment to present itself as the more open and developer-friendly alternative.

The company pointed developers to a Build session titled “Boost Your App’s Success with the Latest Microsoft Store Features” for more insights. Microsoft wants developers on its side, and it’s willing to meet them halfway.

This year alone, Microsoft has sunk $64 billion into infrastructure, much of it driving the AI growth through data centres powering services like Copilot in Microsoft 365. 

While most tech firms are cautiously navigating unstable markets, Microsoft’s share price has surged over 30%, a sign investors are betting on the company’s aggressive AI focus.

Behind the scenes, Microsoft appears to be recalibrating its alliance with OpenAI. Though the two remain close, with Microsoft still a strategic backer, OpenAI has been given leeway to partner with others, including Oracle, on the massive Stargate data centre project in Texas.

What’s happening is Microsoft is gradually placing itself as a neutral technology provider, what some are calling an “arms dealer” in the AI wars, rather than locking into exclusive alliances. This neutrality allows it to offer AI tools across industries without being boxed in by one partner’s limitations or priorities.

Meanwhile, demand for AI services in Azure, Microsoft’s cloud platform, is climbing. CEO Satya Nadella has suggested that AI costs can be drastically reduced through algorithmic efficiency. “Once it settles on an algorithm and begins to optimise it, Microsoft can obtain 10 times better performance for the same computing costs,” he said. That’s the kind of return that could redefine tech margins.

The company is also being tactical about how it handles computational surges. Instead of building more expensive data centres, Microsoft is leaning on “neocloud” providers like CoreWeave. These firms specialise in delivering Nvidia-powered AI infrastructure on demand. It’s a leaner, faster, more flexible approach to scaling.

Cantor Fitzgerald analyst Thomas Blakey said: “If they have to flex up in some way, they’ve been consistently saying that they’re going to shift away from buying more data centres and dirt and cement and they’re going to leave that to the neoclouds.”

The Microsoft Build 2025 conference, running until May 22, is not just a developer gathering this year. It’s a moment of clarity about Microsoft’s vision to take over the AI stack, monetise it, and use every tool, from GitHub to Azure, to keep developers building inside its ecosystem.