Split the app lab store again

Question

Dear Meta,This is not a small request, but it has become a significant problem.I have no issue at all with supporting small creators and encouraging them to add their games to the store. However, not long ago, those games were placed in a separate section, the “App Lab.”Now all of these games have been added alongside the regular titles, and the store is filled with cheesy AI slop. It’s genuinely off-putting to browse. I appreciate that you’re trying to make the UI look more advanced in the latest firmware, but if you allow the app store to be flooded with low-budget, extremely uninviting games, new users who are unaware that these two stores have been merged won’t think, “Wow, there are so many new games.” They’ll think, “Why are there so many awful games?”My honest reaction was: “Meta has given up. They’re going bankrupt, and this is a last-ditch effort to make the library look actively updated.”Please, for the love of god, do not ever mix these games with regular titles again. There should be a button that says “Show community games,” and new users should be made aware that they can enable it, but it should absolutely not be enabled by default. That would be a huge mistake. Right now, it just looks horrid.What happened to the Ouya? The exact same thing. Their final move was to flood the store with cheap slop to make it look full again, and then they went bankrupt.Do you actually want VR to grow? A lot of people have heard of VR and only tried mobile VR cardboard. But when I show them the Quest, they’re immediately hooked. Get more local stores to run demos. Let high schools get involved with VR, those are the target group. But for the love of god, don’t overflow your app store with soulless games in a desperate effort to boost sales.And off-topic: thankfully, you re-enabled APK installation again, thank you for that. I love tinkering with my device. If you’re afraid of losing game sales due to piracy, implement better security checks so ripped games won’t run. But don’t take away the freedom to install HLVR mods, Quake, or other 2D APKs. Those apps are what make the Quest twice as exciting.Anyway, I really hope you reconsider this. It has gotten so bad that I’m buying fewer games simply because I can’t find the good ones anymore.&nbsp;Thanks.

steve_40 · Answer

Dear Meta,
I come to you today not as a mere forum user, but as a desperate time‑traveler from a parallel universe where you didn’t fire 1,000 staff, didn’t close studios, and didn’t treat VR like a hobby you remember only when you trip over a headset in the hallway. In that universe, everything is great. In this one… well, I’m writing this letter.
I therefore request—firmly, politely, and with the energy of someone shaking a vending machine that ate their last dollar—that you immediately:

Reverse every recent decision by performing a full corporate Ctrl+Z
Reconstitute every dissolved studio using whatever technology you used to rebrand Facebook overnight
Rehire all staff by simply announcing “Just kidding!” and pretending it was a team‑building exercise
Rediscover VR with the enthusiasm of a toddler discovering bubble wrap
And restore the sacred balance of the Metaverse, which currently feels like it’s being held together with duct tape and a dream

&nbsp;
If this is not done, the consequences will be dire. I have foreseen:

Headsets crying softly in their boxes
Users wandering the digital plains, searching for games that no longer exist
And at least one forum member (me) escalating to writing even longer letters

&nbsp;
You alone have the power to fix this. You built the Metaverse. You can un‑break it. Probably. Hopefully. Please?
With cosmic urgency, A Traveler From the Timeline Where You Still Cared About VR

steve_40 · Answer

Meta has increasingly centralized feedback into private channels (in‑app reporting, developer programs, internal analytics) rather than open forums where users can see and upvote ideas. There used to be an Ideas Board here, but Meta shut it down months ago. You're probably wasting your time posting here.

Partyfreaker · Answer

Ouch… what a shame. I really hope this isn’t the start of a downward spiral. I genuinely enjoy VR, and I’m still rooting for it. I could try submitting a private report, but honestly, I doubt it would make much difference.

Although, a lot of people complained when APK installation didn't work anymore, and it was re-enabled in newer firmware. Either it was a bug, or they actually listened. Maybe if more people point out how poor the app store looks, they will take notice too. I’ve talked to friends who also have VR headsets, and they said the same thing: the app store is filled with cheap AI content. It makes the product feel low-quality immediately.

If I were Meta, I would not buy entire gaming studios, because most of them are bankrupt anyway. Instead, I would let independent studios develop AAA games and pay them the projected profits in advance. That way, if a game underperforms, the studio does not lose money. The advantages are clear:

Meta is not buying an entire company, forced paying salaries
The studio can dedicate all its resources to one game without financial risk
Developers have full creative freedom to make new games or port existing ones to the Quest

My brother-in-law owns a gaming company, and I once asked him why more studios aren't creating VR games. He explained that the risk of not making enough profit is too high, and many companies do not have the budget or do not want to risk spending an entire team’s salary on building a AAA VR game.

Buying an entire company in hopes of producing a golden game is not a healthy strategy. It becomes overly political, with too many people overseeing the project, which kills creativity. In my opinion, giving a company a risk-free opportunity to build a VR game by paying projected profits in advance is a much smarter way to get high-quality AAA content.

Plus, it’s a win-win, because if the game generates a lot of profit, Meta gets their money back. They are also not forced to keep producing games if they would’ve bought the entire company, which could lead to low-quality titles or bankruptcy if they don’t want to keep paying salaries. At the same time, they can offer the same risk-free plan to other studios that have strong teams and proven titles from major companies, generating more games with big-name appeal, fresh ideas, and less risk.

steve_40 · Answer

Shouting at clouds.

Maccyb123 · Answer

zoee.570656​ You have been reported as a spammer. Stop selling coffee machines here please.&nbsp;

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Split the app lab store again

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