SideQuest makes third-party software some owners of Quest headsets use to load up custom home spaces, classic games modded for VR support, and other unofficial content. The software relies on a component of the Android ecosystem, ADB, for managing a standalone VR headset from a companion device. To use the feature with Meta headsets you also have to specify you're a developer to install it.
We confirmed the layoffs with SideQuest CEO Shane Harris during a live episode of VR Download. Harris told us the process is still ongoing and asked to give us details next week.
We recently joined SideQuest's Banter social software to learn about their AI generation experiments. What we saw in there was an impressive proof of concept for voice to 3D object generation, coming just a few days before the layoffs.
We've asked Harris how many have been let go in total and will have more next week once we've verified more information.
If you have information you'd like to share with UploadVR you can reach us via tips@uploadvr.com. We don't respond to all messages, but we do make use of that information and thank those who share facts openly with us.
Gorilla Tag is celebrating its fourth anniversary with the new Birthday Bash event starting today.
An in-game community celebration, Another Axiom confirmed that the VR multiplayer hit Gorilla Tag is splitting this planned event across three days. Today kicks off with new merchandise that includes an in-game code for a Party Banana Hat, while more bonus items are unlocked after reaching 10k, 30k and 50k sales respectively.
February 7th introduces limited time cosmetics claimable until March 6; the Lemming Squishy and Windup Toys, plus a 4th Anniversary Badge. Finally, the one-day Birthday Bash event begins on February 8th from 10am PT, with the transformed space featuring a big cake as the centerpiece, decorations, and other party gear. A livestream event from Makeship will later follow between 11am-2pm PT with giveaways.
Gorilla Tag is available as a free-to-play game on Quest and PlayStation VR2, while the Steam release costs $20.
Meta responded to developer concerns over discoverability and sales on its platform with a blog post detailing the rise of in-app purchases and free-to-play content.
A blog post from Meta's Samantha Ryan, VP of Metaverse Content, claims "people spent more time on average in Quest 3S devices than any other headset at launch" and "total payment volume on the platform rose 12% in 2024, driven by significant growth of in-app purchases."
The figure gives useful context to our in-depth report talking with nearly two dozen developers struggling with visibility on Meta's platform. Meta's blog post terms these dev works "premium" products among free Horizon Worlds destinations, as Meta transitions toward supporting Horizon OS with third-party hardware in addition to the company's own Quest headsets.
"We don’t think F2P will replace premium apps — both models are likely to coexist," Ryan wrote. "These models are fighting for a share of consumer wallets and as competition heats up, we’re committed to fostering an ecosystem where all kinds of business models can succeed."
You can check out the full post on Meta's site from Ryan, who joined the company about a year ago to "lead the growth and evolution of our software strategy for the metaverse".
The post suggests "young people" are a "growing share of new users" and "contributing to the rise of free-to-play titles" as well as in using Horizon Worlds.
"This shift signals a growing opportunity for new business models," Ryan wrote. "A broader range of people are buying Quests, and this expansion has changed some of the tenets of our ecosystem that were previously taken for granted. It has also created important new opportunities for developers and creators."
The post also mentions a 10% rise in time users spent in media apps, with Amazon Prime added last year to quickly become a "top 10 2D app by time spent on the platform".
"In 2024, existing Meta Quest owners drove a wave of device sales as they upgraded from earlier models, accounting for 27% of Quest 3 and 20% of Quest 3S users for the year," Meta noted. "These customers have high expectations for fidelity and gravitate to premium titles that feature high production value, and we continue to see strong performance for titles like The Thrill of the Fight 2 and Contractors Showdown that appeal to this audience."
The majority of new devices sold in 2024, Meta says, "were people getting their first Quest headset. As so many newcomers enter the market, the well-known attributes of VR enthusiasts no longer represent the full Quest userbase."
The post also recaps a number of recent updates and tests, like changes to the store interface to makes store apps "more visible on the front page of the Horizon mobile app" as well as "enabling developers to opt-in to platform sales".
"To reach younger audiences looking for fun, social, free-to-play experiences, we’re expanding the ways you can build and monetize in Horizon Worlds," the post notes.
Walkabout Mini Golf development studio Mighty Coconut told UploadVR that 50% of its revenue is from paid DLC content, with January being the best DLC sales month ever for the company.
"In-app purchases are incredibly important for revenue but also for keeping players engaged and coming back for fresh new experiences and worlds to explore," Walkabout creator Lucas Martell said. "It keeps things active and alive, and has allowed us to expand the game far beyond our wildest dreams."
We've still got some unanswered questions about the direction of Meta's ecosystem and will be following up in the days ahead.
Free-to-play VR multiplayer shooter FRENZIES kicks off a new Super Bowl-themed event today on Quest.
Following its early access launch in October, nDreams announced that FRENZIES is celebrating the upcoming Super Bowl LIX with a weekend-long special event. The 'Super Mega Glitter Ball' promises new limited-time cosmetics with the free 'Big Game' bundle that includes 'home' and 'away' onesies, while the Glitter Pig is being given a 'pigskin' cosmetic.
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Elsewhere, nDreams confirmed it's also giving a temporary revamp to its gridiron-inspired round type, Carniball. The publisher states this will receive a “gameday makeover” and you can find that included with every match during this event, which starts today and ends on February 10.
FRENZIES isn't the only VR game we've seen celebrating this weekend's Super Bowl so far. Last week saw Synth Riders reveal that it's releasing a new Experience for the Halftime Show's headline performer, Kendrick Lamar. The Humble Experience arrives today as a timed Apple Vision Pro exclusive, and it'll launch on other headsets at a later date.
The announcement also follows today's news that nDreams is closing two internal VR studios but opening a new one called Compass. Comprised of 40 staff members from the former Orbital and nDreams Studio teams, the new group aims to target VR's younger audience by “rapidly prototyping games.”
nDreams is closing two studios as part of its ongoing restructuring program, bringing some workers into its new 'Compass' studio.
Following last September's news that the UK publisher would lay off employees in a new restructuring program, nDreams announced that two of its internal studios have now shut down: nDreams Studio Orbital and nDreams Studio. Speaking to Game Developer, the publisher confirmed that 40 members across both teams have formed a new team, Compass, while the remaining staff were laid off.
“As part of the strategic refocus that we announced in September, we regrettably lost talented members of our teams and also altered our multi-studio development structure,
“This unfortunately meant closing nDreams Studio Orbital and meant that nDreams Studio could not continue in its current form. Both teams did brilliant work and many people from those affected studios have been retained within nDreams’ new look structure, with several of those forming part of the new Compass studio.”
Compass is being led by former EA and Activision producer Callum Godfrey, and the 40-person team aims to target VR's younger audience by “rapidly prototyping games.” Game Developer's report states the studio will adopt a “democratic approach” to development, one that allows anyone on the Compass team to pitch new game concepts.
Recent years have seen nDreams gradually expand to four separate teams, alongside establishing a third-party publishing program. While nDreams Studio most recently delivered Synapse, the Orbital team focused on live service and free-to-play VR games. As for the two unaffected studios, Elevation focuses on AAA gaming, and Near Light launched FRENZIES in early access last October.
That expansion was later followed by Swedish group Aonic acquiring nDreams in late 2023, who purchased the studio for $110 million following a prior $35 million investment in March 2022. At the time, CEO Patrick O’Luanaigh advised that the studio's “core focus will remain unchanged.”
VR roguelike Ancient Dungeon added multiplayer support on PlayStation VR2 and more in today's update.
Initially launched in 2021, Ancient Dungeon later reached PS VR2 in 2023 through publisher Maze Theory. Today, the team announced that it's launched the multiplayer update for Sony's headset to bring the game “on par with Meta Quest 3 and PC VR in terms of content and features.” That supports up to four players, and you can see that below in the release trailer.
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Multiplayer support hasn't always been available in Ancient Dungeon, only arriving last year across Quest and Steam. Maze Theory confirms cross-platform multiplayer support for PlayStation VR2 users isn't available at launch, though it will be implemented at a later date.
Co-op isn't the only feature in today's update, either. Ancient Dungeon now features two new “challenging alternative floors” called The Luminous Depths and The Noxious Sewers, each featuring new bosses. The Luminous Mines have been reworked to become The Gloaming Mines, while other changes include a new Insight upgrade alongside more relics, enemies, and milestones.
AR continues to demonstrate impact and applicability across a range of enterprise functions. What are the ways that it can elevate and impact logistics? TeamViewer's Matt Wyatt breaks it down.
With concerns about declining sales and discoverability, UploadVR spoke with nearly two dozen VR studios to discuss the current state of shipping VR games on Quest.
It's become increasingly apparent since last year that things are not what they once were, despite Meta's lead in VR and AR seeming unassailable. Meta's Reality Labs division is reporting record revenues, and Quest 3S seems to be selling well. Yet for many developers making VR games, the mood has soured.
Some developers are buoyed by revenue through subscription programs like the Quest+ gaming catalog, with every new Quest 3S headset including three months of Quest+. However, many others are now struggling to find sales and to support their teams long-term. UploadVR spoke to developers with concerns about declining sales to learn about the current state of VR game development on Meta's store.
But before his departure, Meta's original technical guide through VR John Carmack warned that “setting out to build the metaverse is not the best way to wind up with the Metaverse.”
"Mark Zuckerberg has decided that now is the time to build the metaverse. So enormous wheels are turning and resources are flowing and the efforts definitely going to be made. So the big challenge now is to try to take all of this energy and make sure it goes to something positive and we’re able to build something that has real near-term user value because my worry is that we could spend years and thousands of people possibly and wind up with things that didn’t contribute all that much to the ways that people are actually using the devices and hardware today.
A memo was recently leaked from Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth noting “Horizon Worlds on mobile absolutely has to break out for our long term plans to have a chance.”
2025, it is said then, will determine whether Meta's hardware and metaverse division is “the work of visionaries or a legendary misadventure”.
The wider video games industry continues seeing layoffs despite the industry's market value reportedly reaching around $184.3 billion. Factors cited by some include overinvestment following the COVID-19 pandemic and increasing development costs. Hearing about newly affected studios ending projects or reducing team sizes feels like a weekly occurrence and, for some, Quest is no longer delivering some studios the same returns they've once seen.
The pace of complaints from developers seemed to speed up after the Meta Horizon App's redesign back in July, with many citing the transition in their interviews as a sore spot. For some, the store is still profitable, with Eye of the Temple only recouping its development costs after being ported to Meta's headset, even as Gorilla Tag cleared more than $100 million.
But for developers seeing declining sales, what exactly is going wrong?
Many point to issues concerning discoverability, curation, Meta's increased focus on Horizon Worlds and the decision to merge App Lab with the main store as a tipping point for revenue decline.
Most studios requested anonymity in their talks with UploadVR to protect their relationships with Meta, though Andrew Eiche at Owlchemy Labs, Kevin Walker at Middle Man Games, and Alex Nasanov at iTales VR agreed to go on the record. As part of our discussion, Eiche made clear his comments are solely on his and Owlchemy's behalf and do not represent Google, which owns the veteran studio.
Horizon Worlds
Most developers feel Horizon Worlds is getting increased attention at the expense of store apps, mentioning it when asked how they view Meta's general direction. Several suggested this approach indicates Meta is pushing a mobile approach aimed at younger audiences, trying to entice young players who have no wallets by prioritizing free-to-play content. They perceive Meta as promoting Horizon Worlds as the default experience for VR users rather than paid apps on the storefront.
“This is not the direction I would have chosen,” Andrew Eiche said over a video call with UploadVR. “I think they made a video game console and they want a general computing device.”
Horizon Worlds screenshot as seen on the store page
Notably, Dimensional Double Shift from Owlchemy released as a free multiplayer app on Meta's storefront after a string of paid releases. Technically, this content type isn't supported by Horizon Worlds, which still requires physical input of some kind.
Multiple developers sent us pages of screenshots of search results featuring what look like Horizon Worlds clones of premium games competing with paid work, and sometimes winning in search rankings.
“This is bad for us devs. It's bad for consumers,” states Kevin Walker. “And when they show free [Gorilla Tag] clones above paid apps, I don't see how it's even good for Meta.”
Eiche and others praised the Quest Store for what it's delivered in the past, with multiple platinum releases clearing one million units. Others understand Meta's priorities, but the prevailing sentiment in our talks with developers is concern and frustration.
Here's a series of selected direct quotes from the developers with paid releases on the Quest Store who wished to remain anonymous:
“Meta will prioritize whatever leads to more users, market share and profit. At the moment, I don't think they have doubled down on what the best path is, so they are trying everything.”
“Meta is not interested in being a gaming platform anymore — they just want to be a metaverse, and they just happen to have a legacy store.”
“You end up with the kind of worst of both worlds for smaller developers — loads of games, and no chance of yours getting shown on any shelves.”
“The heavy promotion of Horizon Worlds feels reminiscent of monopolistic practices. You wouldn’t see Apple or Epic prioritizing their own apps this aggressively within their stores.”
“It feels a bit like Meta has seen the Store data and is keeping it as a legacy option rather than the future of the platform.”
“If Meta wants developers to thrive and create sustainable businesses, they must realign the Quest Store’s focus.”
Horizon Worlds and its free destinations competing for search, promotion, and time in VR is one aspect of paid store developer frustrations, but Meta also stopped curating content on the storefront more generally in 2024.
Scott Albright, CEO for Combat Waffle Studios,previously told UploadVR last year that he wasn't a fan of App Lab being discontinued, and that sentiment's only grown.
Many developers see the move to make the store “open” as being a good one overall because it lowers barriers to entry. One studio called it “an inevitable step” for any platform looking to grow, and a positive change. That same developer, however, suggested Meta “wasn’t ready to manage the vast amount of very unpolished content and the lack of a warning time.”
“I believe that this has also shifted the type of content that gets visibility on the store now and, as a consequence, opened up its doors for developers with new approaches to VR game development and also new ways of monetization. This has caused legacy devs and publishers having to adapt to new times, which takes a while,” said another developer.
Here's another set of direct quotations from developers on their issues with the changes around curation:
“As someone who has been on both sides, App Lab and Store, I think it is a good thing that App Lab was merged and got more visibility. But to me, it seems it was done without any thought out plan behind it.”
“Our reach, which is how many people see the game, has dropped by 60% since the Horizon push & App Lab merge.”
“Funding games/film/art/tech journalists to search the store and write about hidden gems would be a great idea.”
“I do expect that if someone searches for Puzzle games, they can actually see ALL [of the] puzzle games,” said Kevin Walker, who previously released VR puzzler Twistex in 2023.
“Through some combination of poor discoverability, poor store page to sale conversion and general VR market conditions, our sales numbers so far are lower than our lowest expectations and predictions.”
“When Quest 3s launched, you couldn't even tell from the sales data that a new and affordable headset had launched… I think that this is not necessarily due to Quest 3s selling so much less, but due to those players not reaching the store and buying games.”
Some studios consider the removal process was rushed, though others argue that App Lab wasn't really merged in. One team says Meta “removed the main store” and put everyone on App Lab. Eiche says they changed the store to be like Google Play or Apple's App Store, though he concedes there are arguments both ways with an open platform.
Attack Of The Gorilla Tag Clones And Discoverability
Screenshot taken on desktop on February 3, 2025.
In recent times, the Horizon Store's home page seems to have improved when searching on desktop or inside the headset. Though the mobile app still prioritizes mobile Horizon Worlds content when you load it up, with no means to adjust this, the desktop homepage begins by highlighting the most popular apps and top-selling that week.
But it is not long before you reach the 'Browse All' category, where listed entries often have some variation on the words “Gorilla,” “Tag” or “monkey.” These often outrank Gorilla Tag itself due to inflated ratings from a small number of users. Many of those we spoke with view the Quest Store's current discoverability poorly, and worse than Steam. One developer likened it to entering a department store filled with cheap clothes during the holidays.
One studio called being discovered their biggest issue next to funding, while another said navigating the store has become “unnecessarily difficult.” Another expressed frustrations that promised support over marketing and reaching the main store never materialized.
Quest 3 advert showcasing mixed reality features in Demeo
Adding mixed reality labels on the developer dashboard side are still curated by Meta, yet other genres are not. Some genres in the developer settings aren’t reflected as filters on the actual store, which is causing some frustrations, while others don't show the full selection of games in a specific genre.
Decreasing Sales
Quest 3S and Quest 3
Just how badly have developers been affected saleswise? The exact percentage naturally varies depending on who you ask, but some of those who aren't supported by a platform subscription program suggest revenue drop-offs for their games between 50 - 80% for 2024 compared to 2023.
Sales impact was much more visible in the second half of 2024 for many. One studio explains that developers usually expect a big spike in sales when a new headset launches, even more so when you factor in Christmas sales. One studio says that didn't happen with Quest 3S, despite retailers like Amazon reporting high sales.
“When Quest 3s launched, you couldn't even tell from the sales data that a new and affordable headset had launched… I think that this is not necessarily due to Quest 3s selling so much less, but due to those players not reaching the store and buying games,” states one studio.
One developer believes Meta should implement more mechanisms like Steam Daily Deals to provide indie titles enough sales to cover months of costs. Another points toward both declining sales across the entire gaming industry and a shift toward younger audiences.
“This demographic typically spends less compared to adult gamers, raising the question: where have the adult VR gamers gone?”
Of course, games aren't guaranteed to be a success at launch, no matter the platform. Even with strong reviews and great marketing, games sometimes just fail to land with an audience for a myriad of reasons. Critical success doesn't equal commercial success and, for a niche market, the end of 2024 delivered a relentless stream of new releases.
From October to December, the following games saw release on various platforms:
Batman: Arkham Shadow
Skydance's Behemoth
Alien: Rogue Incursion
Metro Awakening
Arizona Sunshine Remake
Human Fall Flat VR
Maestro
Just Dance VR
Vendetta Forever
The House of Da Vinci VR
Triangle Strategy
Action Hero
Home Sports
Attack on Titan VR: Unbreakable
DIG VR
And that's just some of the list. I've never seen such a hefty lineup of big VR games released in such a short timeframe. Some of that could be attributed to the Quest 3S launch, and while most developers we spoke with didn't have the most positive results, it's not impossible to break through or at least get close. In a separate interview outside this report, Flat2VR Studios advised Trombone Champ: Unflattened was close to hitting sales expectations despite the fierce competition.
So there's a mix of heavy competition, poor discoverability, search issues, increasing promotion of Horizon Worlds, and a userbase that perhaps isn’t big enough to support such a wide range of games. This hasn't gone well for many, set in context of wider economic issues like the increasing cost of living leaving people with less disposable income.
“There's a bigger, more insidious core problem that's happening. The amount of money that consumers are willing to spend on apps that you pay for is shrinking,” Eiche said.
Owlchemy doesn't believe declining sales are necessarily due to games reaching the tail-end of their life cycle. He suggested Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High — which recently received price cuts — have discoverability issues, while Job Simulator still regularly charts in the top 10. Even in such a high spot though, Owlchemy's debut hit is making less money than it once did.
“I would love to be like, 'Hey, Job Simulator had a great run.' That's great. But then when I see it in the top 10 or in the top four but the amount it's making is an order of magnitude less, like half as much as it did before,” Eiche said. “That to me says that the overall amount of money being put into the store is shrinking.”
This doesn't necessarily mean there are fewer Quest users, but it suggests more are opting for free-to-play experiences over premium content.
Quest+ Subscriptions
Meta Quest+ is a subscription program providing access to two pre-selected monthly games and a rotating selection of VR titles via its Games Catalog. It's drawn the inevitable comparisons with Xbox Game Pass, and Sony's own PlayStation+ service. Meta includes a 3-month subscription with every new Quest 3S headset, meaning anyone who received a headset over Christmas still has this.
For some developers, revenue from the programs can close the gap with revenue lost from store sales.
Releasing games on Quest+ immediately feels like a “double-edged sword” to some though, with games failing to reach sustainability across both store and subscription channels. Another developer expressed skepticism about subscriptions wholesale, calling the model a “catastrophic disaster” for the music industry. Others just see it as a new name for curation at Meta.
“It is a great option and helps users discover great content BUT it cannot be [the] only method for doing so,” one developer said. “Which currently it is.”
Some believe Quest+ gives users fewer reasons to go looking for games to purchase, stating this complements Meta's push with moving users to free apps. Despite this, most developers agreed the subscription service is great for consumers.
“Quest+ is a form of curation because anything where you pick out apps is a form of curation. I think that's another line of business,” says Andrew Eiche, who calls Quest+ a good way of recommending titles. “I don’t see Meta pushing that as the answer.”
Better Sales On Steam or PS VR2?
With declining Quest sales being a common issue across these studios, has this lead to an uplift in sales across other headsets for multiplatform developers?
Based on the developers we spoke with, generally no, but with a few notable exceptions:
“Steam 22% vs. Meta 78% after 6 weeks.”
“[Steam] gives me a much lower reach but it's a much bigger pond, so I would expect that,” advised Kevin Walker.
“Generally we've had a 90% Quest — 10% Steam split.”
“It depends on the type of game but in our case, Meta is without a doubt the best-selling platform. Steam and PlayStation go next for us, but we see them as secondary streams of revenue.”
One CEO reported 90% of sales came from Steam compared to Quest, attributing this to being featured on the Steam front page after participating in themed sales and festivals. Another developer saw 2024 on Steam outperform their sales in 2023 and 2022. Even with Quest being their main source of revenue, one studio advised the difference with Steam is “shrinking more and more.”
One studio told UploadVR lower than expected sales on Quest means they'll be focusing on multiplatform launches in the future, naming Steam as a certainty, while PS VR2 and Android XR are “maybe.” GDC's State of the Industry report, which surveyed 3500 developers, advised 59% of VR developers are working on Quest/Horizon games, 31% for SteamVR, 16% for PS VR2, and 8% for Apple visionOS.
PlayStation VR2 also appears to be another beneficiary following decreased sales on Quest. Across the last few months, we've seen an increasing number of developers announce ports for Sony's headset.
Sinn Studio co-founder Almir Brljak confirmed that Swordsman VR “sold more copies” on PS VR2 than Quest in December, calling the Sony headset's pricing “a huge barrier.” While not a direct indicator of sales, Skydance's Behemoth and Metro Awakening all show more user reviews on PS VR2 than Quest, though Steam shows the highest review count for Metro.
Touching upon Into The Radius' success, Fast Travel Games CMO Andreas Juliusson recently stated that sales on PS VR2 “exceeded our expectations.” Elsewhere, Toast Interactive's VR platformer Max Mustard sold better on Sony's headset than Quest in the first two weeks.
Some of this can be attributed to the specific audience. Max Mustard likely benefitted fulfilling a genre desire when Astro Bot lacked PS VR2 support, despite Rescue Mission being a PSVR hit, while Into The Radius and Swordsman would suggest PlayStation VR2 owners also prefer more “hardcore” experiences. Even then, one studio behind a more casual game revealed surprising sales.
“We have similar numbers on Meta as we do on Steam, but much higher on PlayStation. Given the size of these platforms, it’s unclear to us how this is even possible,” a studio representative said.
Considering Non-VR Platforms
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the increasing struggle with sales on Quest and VR in general, two studios advised they're looking more toward flatscreen gaming. Whether that's for hybrid titles going forward or flatscreen-only wasn't specified, though it's clear these decisions are motivated by financial struggles.
“Compared to non-VR sales, it is increasingly feeling like we shouldn't bother with VR or MR at all,” one studio tells me, stating sales for their game's flatscreen edition on Steam outperforms the VR edition on Quest by 500%.
“In my opinion, the Quest Store is not on a good path. As a result, we will see a good amount of VR studios close or pivot to non-VR in the next years, leading to a big drop in quality games 2-3 years down the line,” said one developer.
Crucially, this avoided layoffs and saw the staff members redeployed to other projects. Eiche described this as a “smart business decision” because FuturLab didn’t wait until layoffs became inevitable.
The last two years for many VR studios have been rough. The wider games industry remains in a rough state, tens of thousands of developers have lost their jobs and VR gaming has been hit too. WIMO Games, Archiact, First Contact Entertainment, Sony's London Studio, and Ready At Dawn have all shut down since 2023.
We've received emails from folks looking for contract positions as some studio heads look to “work for hire” jobs to keep their workers employed.
“I can still get by because I'm solo, but if I had employees there would be no way this would be sustainable,” one developer said.
Other Highlighted Concerns
Some developers also highlighted their worries about Meta's recent changes to its content moderation policies across Threads, WhatsApp, Instagram, and Facebook, which includes removing fact-checking. These recent moves saw CEO Mark Zuckerberg accused of aligning himself with President Trump before his inauguration last month.
Meta faced heavycriticism both from platform users and its own staff over its updated community standards guidelines, with many worried about the rise of hate speech, homophobia, misogyny, transphobia, and more. Meta also removed transgender and non-binary themes from Messenger, killed its diversity, equity and inclusion programs, and removed accommodations for transgender staff. The current Hateful Conduct guidelines as of February 4, 2025, state the following: “We do allow allegations of mental illness or abnormality when based on gender or sexual orientation, given political and religious discourse about transgenderism and homosexuality.”
Meta's moderation landscape is changing rapidly, and its efforts to scale toward billions of users continues to bend heavily toward automated systems at multiple layers. Evidence recently emerged via VR enthusiast Lunayian that Meta could be dropping moderators reviewing the last few mins of audio/video after you report other users in Horizon Worlds.
One developer questioned how much longer they can ethically do business with such an organization.
We intend to explore this particular area further fully in a separate report. If you have information to share with us, or in particular a developer looking to share your thoughts on Meta's recent moderation changes, please use our Contact Us page to get in touch or email me: hstockdale@uploadvr.com.
How Meta Shapes The VR Market
Where does this leave the VR market?
If you're a VR gamer, some months may seem like there are more older games getting VR mods than new VR games. Even so, there's still a slow but steady drip of indie releases from small teams, as well as occasional tentpoles from well-funded groups with dozens of artists working on a single project.
Some developers are hopeful things will change for the better at Meta, while others cannot wait for Valve's rumored Deckard headset. Many praised Meta for keeping the VR market as vibrant as it has been, though another conceded VR adoption has been “slower than expected.” Another criticized the infrastructure around the platform as “suffering from serious growing pains.”
“I can't complain too much about any company that is willing to lose this much money to inject life into a market,” states one relative newcomer to VR games development.
“Let’s be clear—without Meta's multibillion-dollar investment, there would likely be no VR market at the scale we see today.”
One developer believes Meta is shaping the industry in an “unsustainable” direction that’s good for retention from younger audiences – free-to-play – but bad for overall revenue. Others cited concerns about the market shifting so rapidly, while one expressed caution about chasing mixed reality experiences at the expense of VR. One studio cited shifting goalposts during development on Quest as a problem, while another believes mixed reality made some developers “forget about VR.”
Clear investments are being made into pushing Horizon Worlds and that's particularly true on mobile, though some remain hopeful that Meta can be persuaded into course correction.
In preparation for this article, we reached out to Meta this week with a bulleted list of complaints from developers and questions we're hoping the company can answer. We were told they're preparing a blog post and will update with a link to that post once it is live.
Notice
As part of our reporting, UploadVR initially put a call-out for responses to aconsumer survey. However, this did not receive a wide enough response to be considered viable data for the report. For transparency, we've included a link to thefull results here.
Just Add Water's comedic construction simulator, DIG VR, makes its PlayStation VR2 and Steam debut this March.
In DIG VR, you become a construction god, digging up pesky dirt around the comically named Diglington in the County of Digshire. As you progress, you'll become privy to hidden lore across the city while unlocking complex machinery and crevice-creating tools like a Circular Saw, Compactor, and Grabber. On March 20th, PS VR2 and Steam players will have their chance to work through the building simulator's quirky campaign and enjoy DIG VR's handful of minigames and sandbox game mode, too.
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We enjoyed our time with DIG VR and gave it a 3.5/5-star review, describing it as “an enjoyable premise backed by a vibrant presentation, comically silly minigames, and beautifully British humor.”
DIG VR launched on Quest last November and recently received fresh content in its follow-up Winter Update. The update welcomed new cosmetics, a time trial mode, and an online leaderboard. Developer Just Add Water also introduced two new radio stations, Oceanic Beach Radio and Cultural Rhythms Radio, for players to listen to as they work.
DIG VR is available on Quest now, and it's coming to PS VR2 and SteamVR on March 20.
Steam now issues a warning to players if an early access game hasn't been updated for over a year.
While it's unclear when this specific update launched, SteamDB — a third-party database that tracks everything relating to Valve's platform — recently spotted the change on Bluesky. The exact threshold isn't confirmed but so far, the earliest inactivity warning we've seen is 12 months for Escape The Backrooms, the 2022 horror game that's since removed official VR support.
Escape The Backrooms update warning as of February 5, 2025
We've contacted Valve for further clarification about this new change, and we'll update this article if we learn more.
It's the latest development we've seen from the Steam Early Access program, which Valve began in 2013. Presently, each EA game requires developers to fill out an FAQ stating why it chose EA, how long they anticipate a game to be in EA, how the full release is planned to differ, and more. This new addition should make it easier for players to determine whether a game remains supported.