The plan, which has been around since Windows 8, was that app developers could write a single app for all of these devices, and it would magically span across them all. It started to go tits up when Windows phone died, but Vole has been pushing developers to create special apps for the company’s Universal Windows Platform (UWP).

Now it is admitting defeat. Recently Vole switched the company’s Edge browser to Chromium and away from UWP to make it available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and macOS. Microsoft recently put its touch friendly UWP versions of Office on hold, preferring to focus on the web, iOS, Android, and its desktop apps instead. Office was always the centrepiece for UWP and a good example of how to build a more demanding app on Microsoft’s new platform.

Now it is allowing game developers how to bring full native Win32 games to the Microsoft Store, meaning the many games that developers publish on popular stores like Steam don’t have to be rebuilt for UWP.

Microsoft’s gaming chief Phil Spencer said that Vole had released that Win32 is the app format that “game developers love to use and gamers love to play”.

“We are enabling full support for native Win32 games to the Microsoft Store on Windows. This will unlock more options for developers and gamers alike, allowing for the customization and control they’ve come to expect from the open Windows gaming ecosystem.”

Games are one of the most popular forms of apps that are downloaded from app stores. Previously, developers were forced to publish games for Windows 10 through the Universal Windows Platform, which simply doesn’t have the same level of customisation that game developers have come to expect from Windows over the years.

The last straw was when Vole switched the company’s Edge browser to Chromium and away from UWP to make it available on Windows 7, Windows 8, and macOS.