Is a widely criticized and seemingly manufactured sport designed to push the limits of acceptable content within Meta’s App Lab, a space meant for creative experimentation. As the experiment’s efficacy remains evident, with Meta having divested itself of App Lab, it has relocated to the primary Quest storefront, thereby demonstrating a laissez-faire approach towards the types of content allowed for listing on its VR game platform.
For years, submitting apps to Meta’s review process was the sole sanctioned method for publishing applications on the Oculus Quest platform. Meta would primarily focus on accepting content that meets stringent quality benchmarks, such as the quantity of content provided by the app and its overall refinement. The strict submission process proved frustrating for developers attempting to bring smaller or innovative applications to the forefront of the Quest platform, prompting a significant backlash from the community in favor of a more inclusive and open approach.
The introduction of ‘App Lab’ facilitated the development of a new distribution platform for Quest, enabling creators to publish their projects without bias based on quality or scale. However, it’s crucial to note that App Lab apps didn’t initially appear in the main Quest store, thus requiring developers to manually promote their app’s webpage to potential users.
To verify whether Meta truly took a hands-off approach regarding the standards for App Lab apps, developer Tony “SkarredGhost” Vitillo crafted.
Since the identity suggests, the app merely comprises a plain Unity setup with a grey die – you can’t even collaborate using it. Despite its noble efforts, this app would have never had a chance of getting onto the main App Store. Can we envision a future where this concept garners sufficient traction to warrant an App Lab invitation?
Meta permitted nearly any app to enter its App Lab platform, as long as technical requirements were met and guidelines for acceptable content were respected, ensuring that only age-appropriate and lawful content was allowed.
The revelation that developers are now free to submit their apps to App Lab for distribution on Quest without fear of rejection due to perceived shortcomings in completeness or polish is indeed a thrilling development. Despite these efforts, lingering concerns persisted that the unlisted Quest retailer complicated matters further for builders seeking clients.
Following several years of operating App Lab, developers finally forced Meta to discontinue the program, ultimately consolidating the App Lab store with the main Quest store. Anybody can submit a high-quality app to the primary Quest retailer, where it can be discovered by potential customers through search and browsing.
The final week of Final Week’s journey has come to a close, successfully being listed on the primary Quest retailer alongside other App Lab titles, further solidifying Meta’s lack of involvement in app curation.
Despite being potentially unfinished, the builder opted against labelling their Quest app “Early Entry”, with the creator humorously remarking that it’s already complete and ready for release.
