Microsoft has taken down 90,291 apps from the Windows Store because developers didn’t comply with changes made to its app development policy. Here’s what you need to know.
Microsoft had been warning developers that it will be changing its policy around app age ratings earlier this year in accordance with the International Age Rating Coalition (IARC) system. It requires developers to provide information about the appropriate age and content rating to the Windows Store through a questionnaire. This is to help protect kids from accessing inappropriate apps (we’re not saying this will work, but that’s the point of enforcing an age rating).
Apps that do not meet this requirement will be taken off the Windows Store by Microsoft.
This change came into effect at the end of September but it appears some developers didn’t get the memo. According to Windows Blog Italia, there were 329,507 apps before September 26 and by October 19, only 239,216 remained; so 90,291 apps had been taken down.
Windows Blog Italia was looking at the Italian version of the Windows Store but many apps that are on there are also available globally. It appears most major apps were unaffected.
This wasn’t the first time Microsoft has culled a number of apps on the Windows Store. In early September, the company purged a number of apps that were deemed low quality.
[Myce]
Comments
2 responses to “90,000 Apps Shafted From Microsoft Windows Store For Non-Compliance”
So now we have nothing… in widows store… LEL
but I think XBOX everywhere games is the tipping point for Windows however the pricing is Xbox pricing for those games. 🙁
Where sometimes you could get cheaper games locally from JB
It is not all about gaming or so. 90,000+ apps have taken down which means that there might be nothing left to download on Microsoft Windows Store. I think the compliance issues should be resolved before the app appears in the app store in order to avoid any inconvenience to the users.