Still Not Visible! Some Indie Games Being Dropped

[brionholland2000]

NOTE III: I've started a reddit thread in indiedev if anyone wants to add or comment on it here: https://www.reddit.com/r/IndieDev/comments/1g8yzc4/warning_the_meta_quest_store_may_not_be_indie/

NOTE II: Meta Quest Store has no intention of helping indie developers if there is something wrong. Please see the ticket thread I have had with the team and then the response I recieved today, at or near the bottom of the comments.

NOTE: If any other developers are having this issue, reply in here, it seems there are more of us than I thought. Let's try to get one big item going.

Hey Meta Quest Team,

Yes, I did a post last week about how our game has been approved and is not visible in the store and I'm doing another one.  

I appreciate that you responded, we sent an email to the support email you gave us, but it just went to the same team that we have had an open ticket with for the past two weeks.  

Two weeks!!! Our game is only visible if people type in its name exactly. It never appeared in new releases. It doesn't show up in any categories or search terms we gave it. Two weeks of the same response from the team with the ticket, "we have escalated it". How in the world does it take two weeks to determine what the issue is and fix it.

Thousands of dollars went into our release strategy that we vetted at GDC with the meta employees working the space there. Thousands!! We are a small studio, everything we do we vet and determine the best course of action. 

I asked if there was any way they could act like it was new so we could get on the front page under new release like we planned to be and were told that we could always delist the game and then go through the submission process again. How in the world is that an answer!

Do you know how many people can see and download your game if it isn't visible or at the very least semi-searchable. No one.  The only reason a few people have seen our game is because streamers have had to say you need to type in the name of the game directly, or people click on a sidequest link. Freaking sidequest can see it and categorize it from your store but you can't seem to do it.

Everything was geared towards this release. We did not expect it to be big, we were hopeing for luke-warm at best, we are realists. But this is insane! We have already had to tell everyone to find another place to go work because as far as we can tell, Meta is incapable of doing simple tasks like listing a game where they say they will and the last of the funds was used on a now-useless release campaign.

Another great response we got was a list of articles on how to submit and publish a game on Meta. Thanks! We read those a long time ago and then again when you started merging the stores, we talked to you, we did everything that was asked and it didn't matter.

Long winded way of asking a simple question. Why can't meta fix what is happening to our game? Can we get the email or a phone number of someone who can actually make something happen? We have asked the developer support and we just get the same response.  

In the email where they said to delist the game and resubmit they said they did not recommend it. So, what, are we just supposed be like ohh well, meta said your screwed so were screwed. At this point it seems like the only viable option because I'm starting to think you don't have control of your own system.

Just in case anyone thinks I'm making something up i'm going to post the support thread in the comments

[larry.roy890]

Ok guys, this information may be helpful to some of you indie developers.

I worked with tech support for the last 30 days or so, and got exactly nowhere with my questions and comments regarding searching for apps on the store.

However, I did some extensive testing on a Meta Quest headset and the Meta Horizon Mobile App, and here is what works, and what doesn't work, 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.

[brionholland2000]

Good Summary! 

Here is my latest/last post from the ticket I had open with them. They are not going to engage. I think regardless of what they said, the only way to stand out in the store now is to pay them, they just don't want to say it.

• Michelle

  • 2 days ago
  Hi Brion, 
   
  I understand this was not the answer you were wanting, but I want to assure you that the Store's goal is to connect apps and games with users who are most likely to be interested in them. This decision was made with that goal in mind. We suggest reviewing our Marketing and Promotion overview to help you improve the discoverability of your app in the future. (https://developers.meta.com/horizon/resources/vr-marketing-channels)
   
  Thank you again for your patience and understanding. I hope the upcoming changes will improve your experience.
   
  Best, 
  

  Michelle
  Meta Platform Operations and Developer Support

• brionholland2000

  • 1 day ago

  Michelle,

  I want to make sure I totally understand what you are saying.

  1. You are saying that when I talked to the meta reps at GDC they were lying when they said that when the app was released it would be in the new releases section?

  2. That categories and search terms need to be added? 

  3. That we need to market the game?

  If I'm wrong on any of those let me know. Now, let me address them all from my side and re-iterate what I have said multiple times in this ticket. 

  1. We specifically asked GDC reps if we would get time on the new releases, they said yes.

  2. You say we need to have search terms and categories. We do. We have since the app was released.

  The search terms have been "zombie, shooter, story, crafting" They have been entered in every submission. Why it doesn't show them I don't know, but they have been entered. If you go to the horror section, for example and sorty by release date, we are not there, games before or after us are, but not ours. 

  Search by zombie or story or any of them and we are nowhere to be found. It has been a month, the only way to see us is to type in our name.

  It has been a month, how long does the meta data take to update?

  3. We did market the game, we spent a lot on conventions and having people stream it. But, when people went looking for the game, they could not find it. It didn't occur to most to type in the name specifically.

  Did meta change and now only shows best sellers no matter how refined the search is?  If so, it would be good to know because that is not what was told to us and now how the platform was sold.

  Brion 

• Michelle

  • 20 hours ago
  Hello, 
   
  The Store matches apps and games with the users who are most interested in them. Your keywords must match the content of your app but keep in mind, these updates may take some time to impact discoverability. Please review the marketing information to help you improve your app's discoverability. 
   
  I will be closing this ticket, thank you for understanding. 
   
  Best, 
  

  Michelle
  Meta Platform Operations and Developer Support

[Incurian]

After exiting Early Access last week, still no New Arrival listing as of today.

Consider telling your story to this guy: https://x.com/bmfshow/status/1849814397922709600

[tanubon]

I noticed a few months ago that the process of changing the App Lab store display and Early Access mechanism was causing major problems with searching, filtering, and displaying results, and I had posted about it in the forums. It seems to be improved now, but from the filtering results, they are still working on it (some App Lab and Early Access titles that should have been around for a long time are still concentrated and included among the recent titles). 🤔

Also, not directly related to this topic, but I think Meta should rethink their store structure.

https://communityforums.atmeta.com/t5/Ideas/Meta-is-lowering-the-sales-of-many-games-by-themselves-d...

Although improvements have been made since then, there are still many strange arrangements.

[brionholland2000]

Thanks for sending that link, I'll definitely send something to him. Overall, I don't think anything will change. They don't care.

[CyberMagicStudio]

Having the same issue with app visibility:

• it can only be found by exact title
• searching by matching filter criteria doesn't work
• key word search doesn't work
• app is never listed in curated sections/new releases/etc.

The Meta Store team is responding with templates, the same as other people pasted in the posts. 

My game has initially been listed in App Lab. Then I switched to Early Access before store migration. Afterwards it is not discoverable.

Important note: The problem with discoverability doesn't occur when I search on the account where I have purchased the game. That may be misleading to some devs, as they may perceive the app is actually visible. But if you log off and search, or log in using fresh account, the issue occurs.

[larry.roy890]

I think there might be some improvement for Search that is better than when I tested last week.

Headset - Search using filters is still working

Mobile app - Search using filters is now working

Web portal - Search using filters not working

Keywords - Not working anywhere (headset, mobile, web)

[larry.roy890]

I think there might be SOME improvement for Search that is better than when I tested last week.

Headset - Search using filters is still working

Mobile app - Search using filters is NOW working

Web portal - Search using filters not working

Keywords - Not working anywhere (headset, mobile, web)