Meta Horizon Store developers won't engage with their customers (us developers)!

[larry.roy890]

Hey guys, I am Larry, and I created Abby Normal Studios early this year specifically to create and release some casual games that would be fun to play on a VR headset. Quest2/3 seemed an obvious choice, based on what I understand to be the total number of units shipped.

When I first published "Close Encounters", it went to App Lab of course.  Since there was no way at that time for App Lab submissions to provide keywords for our apps, my submission was lost in the chasm and could not be found unless the exact name was provided in the search bar.  Sales from App Lab were basically zero.

When App Lab was combined with the main Meta Store, I was thinking that my app would finally be searchable, which might greatly improve sales.  That did not happen, of course, because the keyword search does not work, even though keywords are provided in the app metadata submission.

None of this should really be that surprising, given that the merge of the App Lab content and the main Meta Store is probably more complex than any of us realize.

What is surprising, however, is that the Meta Store development team apparently refuses to engage with their customer base: all of us app developers.  I have been involved in software development and support for 40+ years, and I have found that the best way to ensure a loyal customer base is to respond to all queries honestly and in a timely manner.  My products have certainly contained bugs and unintended operational features over the years, but I own those issues and I communicate with my customers and listen intently to their feedback.  And I have gained a very loyal customer base.

I posted this question to Meta technical support over a month ago:

"After the App Lab and the Main App store were combined, it was then possible to enter keywords as part of the metadata for my app.

One of my keywords is “breakout”.

When I search for “breakout”, I only get 1 match, and that app is not “Close Encounters”.

Do the keywords take some period of time to kick in?

Also, when I scan the list under Apps->Games->See All, I never see my app.

I’m wondering if I have done something wrong.  My app appears to be largely invisible to the general public!"

This is the response I received from the development team:

"The Store team has provided the following information.
The Meta Horizon Store aims to match apps and games with the users who are most interested in them. Updating your app’s metadata by adding search keywords and reviewing your app’s category and genres help inform how we identify the best match for a given user.
Metadata updates may take some time to impact discoverability and are one of many factors. For additional information about how to market your app, please see our documentation on marketing best practices.
As you consider adding search keywords to your app’s metadata, remember that to distribute on the Store, an app’s metadata must match the content of the app (VRC.Content.2)."

That answer suggests one of two possibilities:

1: We didn't actually read your question, but we'd appreciate it if you'd stop asking questions about the Store because we are really busy trying to fix everything that is broken.

2: The Store development team never actually received my question, because tech support is overwhelmed and can easily rely on a trove of canned responses that could get this developer to stop annoying us.

What I expected to receive from the Store development team was something more along the lines of this:

"As you already know by now, the Store team has been working diligently on combining the App Lab store with the main Store, and the transition is taking a bit longer than we anticipated.  

While some of the search functionality is working as intended, some of the search and keyword support is not yet fully functional."

The bottom line is that I believe it's not too much to ask that the Store development team designate someone to answer app developer questions in a timely and authenticate manner.  Meta and the app developers all benefit from open and honest communication regarding the entire Meta Store eco-system.  Meta benefits from app developers (sales of apps and headsets), and app developers benefit from the Meta platforms.  That's not very hard to grasp.

At any rate, I did some extensive testing on a Meta Quest headset, the Meta Horizon Mobile App, and the Meta Horizon Web store, and here is what works and what doesn't, as of today:

• Meta Quest Headset
• Search apps using filters
• Sort by price
• Filter by genre
• Show apps under $9.99
• This search works and my app appears in the listing!
• Meta Horizon Mobile App (iPhone, iPad, etc.)
• Search apps using filters
• Sort by price
• Filter by genre
• Show apps under $9.99
• This filtered search returns exactly 1 app: Jungle Zoo Ocean…
• Search apps using filters
• Sort by price
• Show apps under $9.99
• This filtered search returns a small subset of available apps (my app does not appear)
• Search apps using keywords
• This search does not return apps with the specified keywords
• Search apps using keywords
• This search does not work, and apps do not appear using keywords (many developers on the meta forum are reporting this also)
• Meta Horizon Mobile App Summary
• Many apps are not discoverable using filters or keywords while using the Meta Horizon App on mobile devices.
• Meta Horizon Store on the Web
  • Filtered searches on the Meta Horizon Store web portal is also broken, and only returns a subset of apps on the store for any given set of filters.

[concavator]

I’m with you. Imagine developing an entire 3D modeling application from scratch only to be screwed over and have your keywords not work and have the support team blow you off after several attempts to contact them. In my 20+ years of being a developer, this is by far the most infuriatingly insulting “App Store” team I’ve ever worked with and whoever runs it is clearly hostile to the **bleep** developers trying to make content for them.  “Meta” is a trash company.