Facebook parent company faces backlash from developers and accusations of 'hypocritical' VR store terms
Meta is facing growing backlash over charging for apps created for its virtual reality headsets as developers complain about future Business terms set for the devices, which the company hopes will help it create a multibillion-dollar consumer market.
Facebook's parent company has pledged to spend $10 billion a year over the next 10 years on "virtual worlds," a much-hyped concept that it says is very bullish on an immersive virtual world filled with avatars.
Meta The investment is motivated by a desire to own the next generation of computing platforms and avoid being trapped by the rules set by big tech competitors, as Apple and Google have done in their respective mobile app stores.
Apple is expected to release a set of augmented reality glasses into the market as early as this year, while Microsoft is developing services that use its HoloLens virtual reality headset.
But several developers told the outlet they were frustrated that Meta, seen as an early leader in the emerging market, insisted on a fee model for its VR app store similar to what exists on smartphones today. Although Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has strongly criticized existing mobile app stores' charging policies in the past. Seth Siegel, global head of artificial intelligence, and cybersecurity at
Infosys Consulting, said: “Don’t confuse marketing with reality, picking on Apple is good marketing. But that doesn’t mean Meta won’t do the exact same thing. Meta is acting as if it has no incentive to make itself better without huge commercial benefits.”
Meta’s “Quest Store” for the Oculus Quest 2 is by far the most popular VR headset app store on the market. , which takes a 30% discount from users' purchases of apps and charges 15-30% for subscriptions, similar to what Apple and Android charge.
Chief of Realities.io, the immersive reality startup behind the VR game Puzzling Places "There's no question that Meta really delivers, they build amazing hardware and provide app store services," said executive Daniel Sproll.
"But the thing is, it feels like everyone agrees with that 30%, and that's what shocks us. Because there's nothing in the market that can compete with it. Even Chinese companies that are launching the same hardware. Why would they change it?"
Meta defended its policy, pointing out that unlike iPhone users, Quest users can install apps outside of its official store through the third-party app store SideQuest, or use the less restrictive and more experimental App Lab.
Meta said: “We want to promote choice and competition in the VR ecosystem. And Meta is working, and Meta’s efforts are generating significant financial returns for developers: As Meta announced earlier this year, the Meta Quest Store More than $1 billion has been spent on games and apps.
developers welcome the alternatives but say their impact will be limited. According to Sensor Tower, SideQuest has been downloaded just 396,000 times, compared with 19 million downloads of the Oculus app. App Lab, meanwhile, still takes a 30% cut of purchases.
Zuckerberg has previously complained about Apple's "monopoly rents" and referred to the App Store's approval and management process as "the unique constraints of as the gatekeeper of ."
When the Oculus headset maker announced in April that its "social VR experience" Horizon Worlds would charge a 17.5% "platform fee" on top of its 30% tax on digital purchases, it led Apple to accuse Meta of "hypocrisy" " .
Apple added: "This shows that while they seek free use of Apple's platform, they are happy to generate revenue from creators and small businesses using their platform.
Until Apple and others enter the VR market with a more consistent approach, developers also say Meta has the ability to play king by fast-tracking some apps and delaying others.
Some games are being lumped into its Experimental App Lab store, while some of its best games - such as fitness games BeatSaber and Supernatural - have been acquired by Meta.
Another point of friction with developers is Meta's shift in how "open" its VR app store is. Chris Pruett, director of content ecosystem at
Meta, said the VR team has been debating for years whether app stores should allow developers to upload content with relatively few restrictions, or whether apps should be "curated by the company," and more Check (similar to Apple's approach to its mobile app store).
Pruett said Meta found that lax standards led to too many users being frustrated by low-quality content, so the company chose to play more of a gatekeeper role instead of developing. Merchants say the resulting hurdles may be a lack of transparency. Lyron Bentovim, CEO of immersive experience group Glimpse Group, said: "Buying something in the Quest store is painful. This is much worse than going to the Apple or Android stores. "Rooom, a Metaverse platform for 3D events, is entering the Quest store after nine months of back and forth, while the same process with Apple took less than two weeks," said Sebastian Gottschlich, CIO of
Rooom.
Devon Copley, CEO of virtual conference company Avatour, said he had posted questions on independent developer message boards seeking support for Meta's development with "absolutely no answers." The relationship “is totally AWOL. It's really frustrating because the hardware development is great, the hardware platform is great, and they do a great job. But their take on developer involvement is a travesty. "
