Microsoft’s big plans for its Microsoft Store are slowly coming to an end. The company launched the Store with some fanfare as a place to get games, apps, music, TV shows, and movies. Music, along with the streaming-app Groove Music, was pulled by Microsoft back in 2017 already.
Now, Microsoft is adding movies and TV shows to the ever-growing Microsoft Graveyard. The official Microsoft Store app and website do not list options to browse, rent, or purchase movies or TV shows anymore already.
Microsoft published a support page that answers some of the pressing questions that the few customers of the Store may have.
Here is a quick overview:
- Customers can access their purchased content on Windows and Xbox devices using the Microsoft Movies & TV app.
- No refunds. Microsoft states that “per the Microsoft Store Terms of Sale, Movies and TV shows are ineligible for refunds”.
- Movies or TV shows can no longer be rented or purchased via the Microsoft Store.
So, if you bought (which means purchased a right to watch the content, with the “seller” having the right to remove your right at any time) movies or TV shows on the Microsoft Store in the past, you will continue to have access to that content. You are stuck using the Microsoft Movies & TV app to watch that content though, which may mean juggling between multiple services, if you plan to switch to another app to make future purchases.
While digital purchases certainly have their appeal, as you get immediate access to the content and can watch it on any modern electronic device more or less, there is always the danger that the company that sold you the content is terminating your access to it. This case, as well as several others, highlight that some of the largest organizations in the world may do that to you.
So what is the alternative? Assuming that you want to fully own a movie or TV show, buying physical media. If you do not want to own it, waiting until the movie or TV show is available on a streaming service that you use.
The alternative is piracy with all of it’s pros and cons.
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The tighter the likes of Netflix and Amazon squeeze consumers, the more of they become willing to take risks to save money or in many cases simply be able to view content the aformetioned entities don’t offer anymore.
So what was the point of creating the Microsoft Store in the first place? Just to ensure that users login with an Microsoft account instead of a local one so they can be tracked and bombarded with ads? Having achieved that goal, they’re now dispensing with the Store since it has served its purpose.
I never bought anything from the MS Store so I won’t miss it. You can stick it where the sun don’t shine for all I care.
Microsoft wanted a store like Apple’s App Store or Google Play.