🎊 Live Events | When, Why & How
Looking for ways to keep players engaged and coming back to your app? Join Gabe Heiland, Meta Growth Insights Specialist for a practical workshop on designing and implementing live events in your VR games. This session will cover how to make focused changes to gameplay activities and rewards that drive player acquisition, boost retention, and increase monetization in live games. Join on Zoom
Shorten Time-to-First-Dollar with Meta Horizon Launch Tools
Launching an app on the Meta Horizon Store is multi-faceted; it doesn’t just start on the day of publish. In fact, what you do prior to shipping your app on the Meta Horizon Store is more important than ever, and it demands a strategic launch that’ll help you stand out. A strong pre-launch makes titles easily discoverable before Day 0 and helps sustain momentum afterward. When discoverability is treated as an afterthought, developers tend to face an uphill battle for visibility post-launch. That’s why we’re excited to highlight our new video-enabled educational playbook, designed to help you think about different pre-launch strategies while you're still building and show how to generate anticipation, gather feedback, and drive early adoption. Below, we highlight each launch feature you can leverage, along with a recommended “Golden Path” sequence for effective pre-launch strategies to help you cut your time-to-first dollar. You’ll also get to hear from some other developers who have had success launching with these tools. Let’s dive in. Launch Features: Your Toolkit for a Strong Debut Meta provides a suite of launch features to help you maximize your app’s visibility and success. Here’s how you can leverage each tool: Playtesting: Gather early feedback while you’re still building Playtesting gives you a private space to gather feedback from real users. It’s your chance to validate gameplay, comfort, and performance early so you can refine with confidence. You can think of it as a small, closed test (more like micro-beta) that gives you a read on user preferences, validates core mechanics, and surfaces issues that only show up in the wild. Pro Tip: Start playtesting as early as possible—even before your app is polished. Respond to written reviews to build trust and show you’re listening to your community. "By carefully limiting access during early playtesting for UG, we were able to validate game mechanics, iterate on in-app purchase pricing, and fine-tune the experience to hit our target session length and other critical metrics. That data directly informed our go-to-market strategy. Ultimately, it’s not about whether the studio loves the game; it’s about whether players do. Testing early and often made all the difference." - Spencer Cook, CEO, Continuum "Trusted testers are worth their weight in gold. I’ve seen time and time again the power of having five to ten highly-engaged players playing directly with the developers, and I’d take this over a disparate group of thousands of players any day. The earlier this happens, the better the chances of launch success because our development decisions are grounded in real behavior and not our own assumptions about what players want." - Kyle Joyce, CEO, Enver Studio (Scary Baboon) Coming Soon Pages: Generate anticipation within 180 days of launch Building out a coming soon page lets you showcase your app up to 180 days before launch to help build excitement and provide users with an opportunity to wishlist your title. Keep in mind that a coming soon page is best for capturing interest, not creating it. Most visibility and growth will come from your own marketing efforts off-platform, like social posts, trailers, and community engagement. Pro Tip: A/B test your store assets (key art, trailer, description) to see what resonates with your audience. "The single biggest determinant of a game’s success is pre-marketing. Whether that’s on socials, or Coming Soon pages, you need to be able to drive your community to take an action like signing up for email alerts or a Discord community." - Kyle Joyce, CEO, Enver Studio (Scary Baboon) "Across titles like Starship Troopers VR, Hitman 3 VR, and BEATABLE, the Coming Soon page helped us inform our community and influencers early while capturing wishlists. It’s become a key tool for building awareness and demand well before launch." - XR Games Pre-orders: Secure early sales within 90 days of launch Pre-orders enable users to purchase paid apps up to 90 days before launch, while providing developers with a convenient way to convert interest into committed downloads and generate revenue before release. You’ll need a price, description, and marketing assets to set up pre-orders. "Offering pre-orders for Hitman 3 VR: Reloaded significantly increased launch-day sales by concentrating demand and excitement ahead of release. It gave us a much stronger day-one performance than previous launches." - XR Games Early Access: An open beta for ongoing refinement Launching your app with an Early Access label tells users that it’s still in development, but it also enables you to reach a broader audience, gather real feedback, and allow space to continue refining your app pre and post-launch. Apps best suited for Early Access are stable and enjoyable, but not fully polished. Remember, this is still your only chance to make a first impression, so consider carefully whether your app is ready for an audience. This feature can be especially beneficial for free-to-play (F2P) apps, where lowering the barrier to entry helps you reach more players and build momentum. And since the app is free, users tend to be more forgiving in their reviews. If you utilize the Early Access label, it is your responsibility to communicate what it means to your users. Pro Tip: Once you remove the Early Access label, it’s permanent—plan your transition carefully. "Early access let us grow a passionate community while we were still shaping the game. Their feedback sharpened our priorities and their enthusiasm created a foundation for us to build around." - Johnny Wing, General Manager, Orion Drift "Early access is fundamental to community building and game success. Of course it helps surface critical bugs early on but more importantly it creates a core group of highly invested players. The Quest Store thrives on the network effect. Players want to be the first to discover a game and be the one to recommend it to their friends and take a massive pride in discovering something early." - Kyle Joyce, CEO, Enver Studio (Scary Baboon) "Early access for BEATABLE was critical in building a passionate community before launch. It created early advocates who helped amplify the game organically the moment we went live." - XR Games The Golden Path: Putting it all together for a recommended launch sequence The Golden Path launch sequence can set you up for maximum exposure, interest, and conversions. Using each of these features we’ve covered today sequentially can put you on the path to build an audience early, sustain momentum, and set your app up for a strong debut. In the graphic above, you can see a recommended cadence on when to start leveraging each feature. Remember, this is just a recommendation; you can define your own strategy and determine what makes the most sense for your title. "Meta has created flexible launch paths that let developers choose what best fits their game. For UG, Early Access was the perfect way to set expectations around polish, bugs, and our roadmap toward a full future launch. It invited players to join us early, get excited about the vision, and actively influence what UG is becoming. This approach let us build hand-in-hand with our community and even helped spark a wave of user-generated content as players documented the game’s growth from its earliest days." - Spencer Cook, CEO, Continuum Incentivization and Best Practices Know your audience: We’ve broken down key audience behaviors and motivations that can help you plan effective content and marketing strategies for your VR apps. Reward early adopters: Offer exclusive content, discounts, or early access perks to wishlisters and pre-order customers. Leverage off-platform marketing: Most momentum comes from your own efforts—use social media, communities, and events to drive awareness. Communicate clearly: Use Developer Posts and direct messaging on platforms such as Discord to keep your audience engaged and informed. Measure and optimize: Use integrated analytics to track what’s working and adjust your strategy in real time. Ready to launch? Start building momentum today Don’t let your launch be just another date on the calendar. Utilize launch features and our new resource guide to build momentum, engage your community, and set your app up for lasting success.📈 Develop with a Retention First Design Mindset | Growth Series, Part 4
Growth gets players in. Retention keeps the fire burning. Join Start Mentor Tevfik to learn how successful Social VR titles create warmth, structure, and meaning that bring players back day after day. Discover practical systems — from daily challenges to visible status and weekly rhythms — that transform one-time visitors into long-term community members. Join on Zoom📈 Turn Social Views Into Lasting Community | Growth Series, Part 3
Views are attention. Community is retention. In this session, Start Mentor Tevfik explores how to convert social media traffic into a real player base — guiding viewers from clips and posts into Discord, playtests, and long-term engagement. Learn the systems that transform passive interest into active community members who return, contribute, and advocate for your game. This session is ideal for VR developers who are getting visibility, but struggling to turn it into lasting growth. Join on Zoom📈 Build Your Social Media Foundation | Growth Series, Part 1
Strong social foundations dramatically increase a project’s long-term visibility and player adoption. Join Start Mentor Tevfik in this session to learn effective strategies VR developers can use to establish scalable social channels early: platform selection, brand consistency, content positioning, and structural decisions that enable organic growth over time Join on ZoomAvitar Clothing at no cost
We are a non-profit organization for a 50+ community. Our volunteers are requesting specific clothing so they can be identified as hosts and/or trainers at events. I am an MHCP member and the President of the organization. Is it possible for me to create a members only world and only add those specific folks to that world and then create a quest so that when they enter the world they do 1 task such as just enter the world and they "win" their designated shirt? They saw this happen recently in another world so are requesting IF I can make this possible for them. These would be logo'd shirts specific to our 500+ member community. And most importantly only to a small number of our volunteer folks. They will not be sold in any clothing shop or in a public world.
Payout Blocked: W-8 Tax Form stuck "Pending" since April 2024
Hello everyone, I am writing because I am experiencing a persistent issue with my Facebook Page monetization. My W-8 tax form has been stuck in the Pending status since April 4th, 2024. Despite having completed all the required steps and submitted the documentation correctly, the status has never updated. This is causing a significant financial loss as my payouts have been frozen for several months. I have contacted standard Support multiple times, but I only receive automated responses that do not resolve the technical deadlock. Details of the issue: Issue: W-8 Form stuck in Pending. Date of last update: April 4, 2024. Impact: All monetization payouts are currently suspended. Could a moderator or someone from the Meta team please look into this or escalate my case to the internal financial department? I need a manual review of my tax documentation to unlock my account. Thank you for your help.Build Short-Term Retention Through Store Ops | F2P Academy - Retention (Part 3)
In Part 3 of our three-part series on retention in F2P games, we shift our focus back to short-term retention through the lens of store operations. Launch Managers Chenelle Bremont and Richard Duck explain how an actively maintained store presence can sustain your momentum after launch by giving players clear reasons to come back. This session was recorded live as part of the Meta Horizon Start Program. 🎬 CHAPTERS 🛒 STORE OPS AND RETENTION 00:00 - Using Store Operations to Support Retention 💬 COMMUNITY INTERACTION 03:10 - Managing Reviews and Developer Posts 📣 SOCIAL REMINDERS AND PLANNING 05:55 - Communicating Updates and Future Plans 🌍 REAL-WORLD AND IN-GAME EVENTS 08:00 - Using Real-World Events to Drive Interest 📚 RESOURCES ➡️ Check out F2P Academy Part 1 - Acquisition: https://youtu.be/BVPo7iRNiv4 ➡️ Check out F2P Academy Part 2 - Engagement: https://youtu.be/Jsq3lh5lfkM ➡️ 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
