Facebook has already announced that they plan to launch a new, official way to play games without using their Quest store. Now, Oculus is saying they’re “highly confident” this new feature will be released in Q1 2021 for the Quest and Quest 2.
Oculus’ Quest store has been under major backlash from developers due to its strict, curated standards. If the app doesn’t meet Oculus’ requirements for scope, presentnation, or athestics, they would disallow it on their platform.
Because of this, some popular apps like SideQuest have started becoming increasingly popular. And quite frankly, it’s for a good reason.
Oculus Quest Sideloading Update
Oculus posted a video showcasing the roadmap at Facebook Reality Labs. It’s really exciting to see the upcoming developmetn features those smart, sexy devils have planned for Oculus and the future of VR.
In the roadmap, Clorama Dorvilias, Product Manager at Facebook Realit yLabs says this new anticiapted feature will be heading to Quest near you in Q1 2021.
Developers and users alike will be thrilled to get this new way to play games and distribute them. Of course, the apps will still have to oblige to Oculus’ Content Policy, but the technical standards won’t be nearly as intense.
Non-Listed Apps
It seems like Oculus is still meshing out the details on how this new feature will work, but it’s likely they will go with the “unlisted” route. There will likely be a way for developers to send users a direct URL for the app they want to install which they could redeem through the Oculus app.
Potential Sales Cut Decrease
If Oculus is letting developers publish their apps or games without using the Oculus store, will they still plan on taking a 30% cut? I don’t see how this would be justifiable. If anything, they might make this option free. Developers going this route won’t get the benefits of the app store.
It will be interesting to see how SideQuest will be affected by the Oculus Quest sideloading update. It seems like the VR community isn’t comfortable with the rigidness of the Oculus store. After all, VR is still in its infancy and “polish” is definitely not the word I would use to describe the experience. Fun, novel, and addicting, yes.
In other news
Did you know JVC revealed a new XR headset?
Frostpoint VR releases on Dec 1st.
Stay up-to-date with the latest VR news.