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GearVR submission team no longer giving app feedback

Zaeran
Explorer
Hey guys,

Just an FYI to prospective developers out there, GearVR's submissions team is no longer providing feedback on submitted apps. I've been told this in no uncertain terms by the submission team, and have attached the actual conversation that took place for those that don't believe me.

If you don't have a perfect app on submission, you'll just be rejected with the message "This build isn't passing our QA review, so we wont be able to accept this submission."

If you want to know why, you'll be told "We don't provide feedback on apps."

And don't even bother referencing their own submission guidelines, where it states that "In the event that your app doesn’t pass our initial review, we encourage you to incorporate the feedback of our developer relations team and resubmit your app when you’re ready", because that's "an outdated document".

So anyway, don't bother submitting a GearVR app unless you have a 100% perfect submission.
55 REPLIES 55

Fulby
Heroic Explorer


@VicariousAlex I should clarify that low quality is only one of many reasons an app could be rejected. Apps that are uncomfortable or make people sick may not make it. Content is another big factor, for example porn, extreme violence, or offensive material may also be rejected. Of course malware would not be accepted. Apps with IP infringement. Probably other stuff as well. 


In these cases and where the app is low quality, the developer should still get feedback so they know this is the problem and not that a minor tweak may see them on the store.

I'm about to submit a demo version of a space shooter I've been working on. This is for the Concepts section to check the gameplay and quality is acceptable to Oculus and to gauge demand for the game. It's taken 2 months to get to this stage - I can't invest the likely 6 months more to write the full game without some feedback to know if it's likely to be accepted. The lack of feedback makes me worry about committing to Gear VR development and I'm not the only one (see this forum and Reddit for examples) - this will hurt the Gear VR's ecosystem in the long run.

I'm not sure about others but I'd be fine with a $100 fee per application (maybe less for free apps/games?) if the problem is that Oculus is being swamped with low quality submissions. I don't think this is a panacea though unfortunately as it hasn't stopped Steam being flooded with low quality games.

motorsep
Rising Star
Well, that's how it works with every publisher/distributor out there, especially on consoles (as an example of closed platform).

Complete lack of communication is a concern, but if published on Steam, you know that it's about as bad nowadays.

tommosaur
Protege
I wondered, wouldn't an early access section for the store address most of these issues?
I mean if the gear store front next to the oculus and samsung boxes on the left (or next to the "ALL" and "Samsung" tab at the top in the main panel) also had an Early Access section, and then when one enters that would show a disclaimer (like the health disclaimer) where it informs the user what early access is all about and that would have more liniency so people could post their things in earlier phases in dev to get feedback on them etc (basically like in Steam Early Access), but also to evaluate the reaction of users and also get financial support during dev, to me that sounds like it could help with most of the issues.
Right now one can choose Early access as category for an app while submitting it for Gear VR, too, but i don't see that changing anything about how reviews are handled, how long it takes to get reviewed, nor early access things actually appearing on the store nor an early access section on the store or other way to access those things.
I hope that is in development and coming soon to help with such things.

motorsep
Rising Star
Early Access isn't a good thing on Steam. A lot of games start off there, get negative feedback (sometimes thanks to trolls), and shut down. Or never make it to completion for variety of reasons.

I think concepts is a good deal we have here. It's almost like a line up of demos/alphas/free apps, where devs get to receive feedback and end-users get to try stuff without losing money.

Just need to streamline submission/approval/feedback process.

Or have "Sandbox" section in the store for demo/alpha versions.

I personally think there should be no way everyone could dump whatever they want to the store. It creates saturation we don't need in a long run.

tommosaur
Protege
"Early Access isn't a good thing on Steam. A lot of games start off there, get negative feedback (sometimes thanks to trolls), and shut down. "

Hm, dunno, at least they get to start and get feedback at all, to me beats getting a rejection in review stage with no reason given 😃

I also don't understand that you seem to dislike Early Access but then suggest a Sandbox section which to me is to good degree what Early Access can also be about, no?

Regarding the concepts section, dunno, i haven't seen selecting concepts as category having any effect on how a review is handled.

motorsep
Rising Star
Early Access is paid, Sandbox would be free.

And yes, chasing quick bucks you sure want Early Access. But it's not good thing for the market in a long run, nor for devs.

tommosaur
Protege
again, having any option would be better imho than the current state of some things getting a rejection without any reason given.

Regarding a free Sandbox, not a fan of forcing content to be free, the expectation of free content is what is making dev on the mobile app stores not sustainable to most devs anymore.

Regarding Early Access being a good option or not, i don't have the numbers so hard to tell for me, to me it looks like on Steam Early Access there is a lot of junk but also some pretty cool stuff in between, just for those cool things in between having a chance i already find it a good thing.
And while there are many things i'd like to see improved in the whole process, dunno, i don't see any much better options on other platforms yet sadly.

motorsep
Rising Star
I have hands on experience with making, finishing, releasing and publishing games (including 3rd party games) on Steam and all too familiar with Early Access. It's outright a bad thing for most developers and users.

What we need is communication.

delphinius81
Rising Star
Given how new everyone is to VR development, a blanket statement of "this is too low quality" does very little to help the developer community grow and learn. I completely agree with wanting to keep low-quality VR games/apps away from the store because they can negatively hurt the platform's growth - the failed previous "VR revolutions" attest to needing high-quality content to drive platform growth. But it is the responsibility of the platform to encourage and support new developers that want to contribute content.

If someone's game or app is bad, let them know! If it has performance issues, let them know. Direct them to best-practice guides and performance improvement guides. Be a developer relations team and not just a blanket yes/no.

motorsep
Rising Star
Perhaps mobile division of Oculus is understaffed severely and Facebook is reluctant to dedicate any additional resources to it since Rift is the flagship product, which Facebook is more interested in growing? (no one will admit that officially, but I wonder if that's the case; I don't really see any other reason behind this issue. especially that it was exact the same problem at Valve - not enough staff to take care of millions of submission, while also taking care of other things related to Steam)