Marketing Your Game Without Ads | Fast Essentials
What if your players did your marketing for you? In this Fast Essentials session, Start Mentor Tevfik Ufuk Demirbaş lays out a phased content strategy for VR developers who want organic visibility without expensive ads. You'll see how short-form and long-form content work together to grow audiences, and how in-game recording tools paired with creator rewards keep that growth cycle running on its own. This session was recorded in February 2026 as part of the Meta Horizon Start program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 🕒 00:00: Introduction & The VR Visibility Problem 🕒 02:38: Comparing Short Form and Long Form Content 🕒 05:03: Content Dynamics in VR & Audience Behavior 🕒 07:33: In-Game Tools & The Community Flywheel 🕒 10:15: Actionable Steps & Conclusion 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Developers Blog: https://developers.meta.com/resources/blog/ ➡️ Meta Quest Developer Hub: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/documentation/unity/ts-mqdh/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH US ➡️ Sign up to get the latest news from Meta Horizon: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/newsletter 💡 LEARN ABOUT THE META HORIZON START PROGRAM The Meta Horizon Start program provides intermediate and advanced developers with the resources, hands-on support, and expert guidance needed to accelerate their app development. Join a thriving community to get the tools and go-to-market guidance you need to successfully deploy and grow your app on Meta Horizon OS. Apply to Start today: https://developers.meta.com/horizon/discover/programs/start
Looking for feedback on a small web tool I built
Hi everyone, I’ve been experimenting with building small web tools recently just to practice and learn. One of the things I built is a simple browser-based counter that can be used to count clicks, track repetitions, or test clicking speed. You can check it here: https://thetallycounter.com/ The goal was to keep it lightweight and simple so it works quickly on both desktop and mobile without needing to install anything. I’d really appreciate any feedback from other developers. Does the interface feel easy to use? Are there any features you think would make it better? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.I Built My Social Media Wrong — 10 Mistakes XR Developers Should Avoid
When developers ask how to grow their social media, they usually expect tips about algorithms, marketing tricks, or viral content. But after working on several VR projects and building communities around them, I realized something much simpler: Most growth problems don’t come from the lack of marketing knowledge. They come from basic mistakes developers make early. I made many of these mistakes myself. So instead of sharing “best practices,” I want to share the mistakes I see developers make most often when trying to build a social media presence around their game. If you avoid these, your growth will already be much easier. Mistake #1 — Starting Social Media Too Late A very common pattern: Developers spend 1–2 years building a game in silence, then suddenly create social media accounts when the game is almost finished. At that point, they realize something uncomfortable: No one knows they exist. Building an audience takes time. Sometimes, a lot of time. Social media works much better when the audience grows with the project, not after it. Sharing development early allows people to feel like they are part of the journey, not just customers at the end. Mistake #2 — Trying to Be Everywhere Many developers try to be active on: Twitter / X YouTube TikTok Reddit LinkedIn Discord Very quickly, this becomes overwhelming. The result is usually: inconsistent posting burnout abandoned accounts It’s much better to focus on one or two platforms first and build consistency there. Growth usually comes from depth, not from being everywhere. In my experience, initially, TikTok and YouTube are enough to get started. Mistake #3 — Only Posting Big Announcements Another common mistake is treating social media like a press release channel. Posts look like this: “We are excited to announce our new update!” Then nothing happens for weeks or months. Social media platforms reward consistency, not occasional announcements. Small updates often perform better than big ones: a new mechanic a funny bug a quick gameplay clip a design question These small posts help build ongoing momentum. Mistake #4 — Posting Like a Company Instead of a Human Developers sometimes try to sound “professional.” Posts become very formal and corporate: “We are pleased to introduce our latest feature update.” But social media works differently. People follow people, not companies. A much more engaging approach is simply sharing the real development experience: things that worked things that failed experiments funny bugs Authenticity is far more powerful than polish. Mistake #5 — Waiting Until Things Are Perfect Many developers hesitate to post because something feels incomplete. The UI isn’t final. The animation is temporary. The mechanic still needs work. So they wait. But in reality, social media often rewards process over perfection. Players enjoy seeing: prototypes early ideas weird experiments development struggles These moments make the project feel alive. Mistake #6 — Ignoring Short-Form Video Today, many discovery systems are driven by short video formats: TikTok YouTube Shorts Instagram Reels For games, these formats work extremely well because gameplay is naturally visual. Even very simple clips can perform well: a 10-second gameplay moment a surprising mechanic a funny physics bug Short-form video has become one of the easiest ways for people to discover new games. Mistake #7 — Having No Clear Identity Sometimes developer accounts post a mix of unrelated content: random screenshots occasional updates unrelated thoughts sporadic announcements From the outside, it’s hard to understand what the account is about. Clear identity helps a lot. For example: a VR physics developer a social VR sandbox creator An indie experimenting with weird mechanics When people understand what you are building, it becomes easier for them to follow the journey. Mistake #8 — Forgetting the Community Loop Social media becomes much more powerful when it is not one-directional. Instead of only posting updates, invite players into the process. Simple questions can create engagement: “Which vehicle should I add next?” “What is missing from this map?” “Which mechanic feels more fun?” These interactions help players feel like co-creators, not just spectators. Mistake #9 — Not Creating a Community Space For games, especially, social media is often just the beginning. Platforms like Discord allow players to: give feedback share ideas create content connect with each other Without a community space, many players disappear after discovering the project. With one, they can become long-term supporters and contributors. Mistake #10 — Expecting Fast Growth This may be the most important one. Social media growth is usually slow at the beginning. It often looks like this: Month 1 → a few followers Month 6 → a few hundred Month 18 → real traction Growth compounds over time. Consistency matters much more than quick results. Final Thought If there is one lesson I learned while building games and communities online, it’s this: Social media works best when it reflects the real development journey. Not just the highlights. The experiments. The mistakes. The weird prototypes. Ironically, the moments that feel the least “polished” are often the ones people connect with the most. If you are building something in XR right now, I’d be curious to hear: What social media mistake have you made while developing your project? Let's discuss!
Why is VR so hated by people who don't own one or never played on VR?
A few years back we could agree about the high price of these devices, but today they had never been so acessible. I own a Quest 2, 3 and PSVR2 and love all of them. But in the gaming communities people gets angry when a new VR game is announced, why? It seems there's some narrative that VR = bad. Most games on VR are in some level of immersive that none flatscreen game will ever be, even more when we talk about horror games. Why is so difficult to change the public opinion about playing on VR?Spreading Love
Hello everyone! So glad that we are almost through another week! I pray you all are blessed and safe. If no one else has told you this week that they love you, let me be the first to say I LOVE YOU 😘 Hope you had an awesome week and hope your weekend is even more wonderful! Take care of your self and stay mindful of the importance of your mental and physical health! 🫶🏼
Program and Manage headset from mobile device
Hi! I was reading on line about the oculus quest being controlled by an iPad for use in helping senior citizens use VR. I'm trying to develop a VR experience for hospice care and that would be really useful. However, I can't seem to figure out how. All I see is the cast to a phone. Is there anything like that? I would like to know if I can pair it to a phone so that the phone controls the experience, so we can use it with patients on hospice. Depending on their stage in the dying process, some won't be able to use the controllers of the Quest 2 we purchased. I read of Rendever, which develops VR programs for seniors and uses Oculus headsets that can be programmed and managed by activities directors via an iPad device. Is there a way we can just have that app? Without having to pay another company? Just from Meta?Merging our Oculus UserVoice Boards onto our Community Forums
Exciting news everyone! We’re going to be merging our suggestions boards on Oculus UserVoice over to our larger Oculus Community forums. We love hearing what all of our users have to say, and we’re looking forward to bringing these two communities together. All of the posts, comments, votes, and statuses will be moved over to a new ideas section that we’ll be opening up on the Oculus Community forums. This change will happen starting December 8th. We’ll also be migrating all Oculus UserVoice accounts with email addresses that match Oculus accounts over to the Oculus Community forums. If you have an existing account on the Oculus Community forums and on Oculus UserVoice, both under the same email address, the accounts will be merged automatically and all of your posts, comments, and votes will be moved over without you having to take any extra steps. You can find and change your Oculus UserVoice account’s email address by logging in and selecting Settings underneath your username. The email address will show in the sidebar. If you don’t want your posts on UserVoice to be associated with your Oculus account, you have two options: Change your Oculus UserVoice email so it doesn’t match your Oculus account email. Do this by logging into your UserVoice account and under Settings, edit your email address and set a different email address from the one you are using on your Oculus account. When the migration happens, your UserVoice posts, and comments will be moved over but they’ll be marked as an unknown author on the new forum and will not be connected with any account and won’t be claimable in the future. OR Remove your username and email on Oculus UserVoice by deleting your account. To do this, you can log into your account on Oculus UserVoice, go to Settings, and on the sidebar, select Delete Account. Once you’ve done this, the content of your posts will remain and be transferred over to the new forum, but there will be no username attached, and no way to recover the post ownership in the future.
