What you have to know
- Meta and Google have been reportedly in talks to get the Google Play Retailer on Meta Quest VR headsets, however talks fell by.
- The transfer would have introduced most Android apps to Meta Quest headsets to be displayed as a 2D floating window.
- Any Android app can at the moment be sideloaded onto Quest headsets however few are formally obtainable on the Meta Quest retailer.
Meta has been attempting to get extra 2D apps on the Meta Quest platform for years however the course of appears to have been something however easy. One of many largest issues is that, when you can set up any Android app on a Meta Quest by sideloading it, there is not any Google Play Retailer help on the Quest.
Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth stated that the corporate seemed into fixing this drawback when he answered a query on his newest Instagram AMA on November 7, 2023 (by way of UploadVR). Apparently, Google and Meta have been in talks to get the Play Retailer on the Quest however, based on Bosworth, Google declined the mixing.
We have reached out to each corporations for remark, however each Google and Meta weren’t prepared so as to add something extra to the story.
As I highlighted in my first AC ThVRsday column again in September, the dearth of the Google Play Retailer’s presence on Meta’s VR platform implies that Meta won’t ever catch as much as Apple with the variety of 2D apps obtainable in combined actuality.
Mockingly, we simply discovered that Google provided Epic Video games $147 million to remain on the Play Retailer again when Epic was working to tug Fortnite from Google’s storefront. That appears to be counter to the technique of not placing the Play Retailer on Quest headsets nevertheless it makes extra sense when you think about Google’s subsequent huge platform technique.
Google and Samsung are engaged on their very own XR headset challenge that is scheduled to launch on the finish of 2024. Since this headset is reportedly centered on combating Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional, each corporations are centered on delivering a mixed-reality expertise that primarily shows 2D apps which you can see floating in your room whereas carrying the headset.
Having a number of apps obtainable on day one is a big precedence for Google and Samsung, particularly since Apple promised that all iOS apps could be obtainable on Imaginative and prescient Professional on day one. The Google Play Retailer is the cornerstone of this technique, and a few have already questioned if Google is purposefully protecting the Play Retailer from Meta in an effort to leverage a bonus over the competitors.
Boz says that Android builders can at the moment port their apps to Meta’s Quest retailer, however that will require not less than some work from builders as they would wish to enroll in a Meta developer account and check app compatibility earlier than it may be listed on the storefront.
Boz famous that the method is usually fast except builders wish to make particular modifications for VR functions. For now, although, Quest customers are both caught sideloading their apps or utilizing the small quantity at the moment obtainable on the Quest retailer.
The Meta Quest 3 is an unimaginable headset, providing totally immersive VR apps and combined actuality experiences. It is the VR console you need with a little bit of productiveness thrown in for good measure.