Shulou(Shulou.com)11/24 Report--

Thanks to CTOnews.com netizens Snailwang and Mr. Aviation for your clue delivery! April 14, according to people familiar with the matter, byte jump plans to pay third-party developers who develop virtual reality software for Facebook parent company Meta to migrate applications developed for Meta virtual reality devices to Pico devices.

These incentives show that the competition between the two companies in the field of virtual reality is becoming more and more fierce. Mark Zuckerberg, chief executive of Meta, has predicted that virtual reality will be the next major computing platform. Byte Jump offers some virtual reality software developers between $15000 and $25000 per app (currently about 103000 to 172000 yuan), according to people familiar with the matter.

'it 's a rule of the industry to pay developers to migrate existing applications to a new platform, 'said a spokesman for byte jump.

Applications and user experience are essential to attract consumers to use virtual reality technology. Both companies are using a variety of ways to attract software vendors who can develop relevant applications and user experiences. Apple also plans to launch an augmented reality headset later this year, analysts say.

Some developers have long been dissatisfied with the procrastination of Quest Store, an app store owned by Meta, to approve new virtual reality software. Meta spent nearly $16 billion in 2022 on building a metacosmos business and was cautious about managing apps in the app store. Some developers say that Meta lacks clear guidelines for reviewing the process of virtual reality applications, and they are looking forward to new competitors to join the field.

In response to the byte jump, Ben Outram, founder of virtual reality game developer Squingle Studios, said: "it's absolutely exciting to see a big company enter the market and challenge the way Facebook does things." Squingle Studios has created a virtual reality puzzle game called Squingle, and Squingle is still waiting for its launch on Quest Store since its release in July 2021.

"it's a good thing for Meta to jump into the virtual reality market and fund developers," Chris Pruitt, director of the content ecosystem at Meta, said at a game developer conference last month. "I hope the tide rises and the boat goes high." Earlier, Pruitt explained that the Meta App Store was cautious about putting apps on the shelves, saying it was a necessary step to ensure that users had a good experience.

A spokesman for Meta said Quest Store's application submission system ensures that the company's virtual reality devices provide customers with a comfortable and consistent experience. She added that application evaluation is based on multiple factors such as performance, input and security to create a high-quality, high-value experience for virtual reality consumers.

In the more than two years since Meta launched a new consumer headset, only one game in Quest Store has become a real hit. As of October, sales of games called Beat Saber had reached $255 million, according to internal documents. It was acquired by Meta in 2019 and has 1.47 million active devices per month. The document also shows that as of October last year, Beat Saber was one of 14 Quest Store games with revenues of more than $20 million.

A spokesman for Meta said that as of February 2023, the number of Meta virtual reality devices with revenues of more than $1 million had exceeded 200, an increase of 44 per cent year-on-year.

The document also shows that as of October last year, Meta's Quest headset had 6.37 million monthly active users. Shipments of Quest headsets fell by more than 90 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2022 compared with the same period a year earlier, according to market research firm IDC; shipments of Pico headsets in the quarter reached 290000, up 110 per cent from a year earlier, but still slightly lower than Meta's 310000. In March, Meta cut the price of a device in the Quest 2 series by $70, Zuckerberg said, "so more people can have access to virtual reality."

In 2021, Byte Jump acquired Pico, a maker of virtual reality headsets focused on the enterprise market, and began to move to the consumer sector. According to Lazius Kaye, a former Pico employee who helped launch the Pico 4 consumer headset, byte jump realizes that it needs a lot of resources and money to sell the device to compete with Meta. Pico 4 went on sale in Europe and Asia last fall with a retail price of about $470. Quest 2 devices with the same storage space sell for only $400.

Even if the prices are comparable, Kay says, byte jumps know that Pico 4 may not be as good as Meta products: Pico 4 can run fewer games, has poor hand tracking, and the overall ecosystem is less developed. It is reported that there are only more than 300 apps for byte-hopping Pico devices, while there are more than 500 apps in Quest Store. Byte Jump has also released a social gathering and metaspace app called Pico Worlds, similar to Meta's Horizon Worlds.

Leland Hedges, head of consumer markets for Europe, the Middle East and Africa at Pico, said: "We are pleased to work with the most creative virtual reality developers in the industry to develop projects that take advantage of the unique features of our platform to promote common development."

In March this year, Meta announced the establishment of Oculus Publishing to attract more developers, setting up a project to provide financial support for independent developers to develop virtual reality games. To date, Meta has funded more than 300 games, and 15 more are under development.

"it works for us because it's quality that improves user stickiness, profitability and popularity on our platform," Meta's Pruitt said at the game developer conference. "

Some VR developers' apps are available only on Meta's App Lab, but not on Quest Store, which has a much wider distribution range. App Lab allows developers to create their own links for consumers to download applications, but many developers complain that it is difficult for consumers to find their applications through App Lab's application directory. When consumers try to find an app in App Lab, they also receive a warning that Meta has not fully censored the app.

Warning that applications in App Lab "may contain unknown issues related to comfort, performance or other factors". Users must click to confirm this message before they can download the application.

Sarah Hill, CEO of Healium, which develops virtual reality mental health apps, says the difference between selling products in Quest Store and App Lab is like selling products in a supermarket and shouting on the street. Hill said Healium's app has been launched in app stores that support other devices such as Pico 4 and HTC Vive Flow, but Meta has not provided feedback on why it failed to pass.

"I don't want to look ungrateful, but it's frustrating," Hill said. "

A spokesman for Meta said that even if developers' products do not conform to the company's management style, App Lab will allow their applications to run on Meta devices.

Meta currently charges developers of virtual reality apps on Quest Store and App Lab 30 per cent of revenue, the same as other major mobile phone developers such as Apple App Store and Google Play.

Sandford Tech is the developer of Color Connect, a virtual reality puzzle game. Company director Kevin Prior (Kevin Puryer) said the game the company developed has been on App Lab since August 2021. Last December, Sandford Tech launched Color Connect, which can run on Pico devices, and paid downloads on Pico devices exceeded all revenue on App Lab in just over a month.

"this is the power of mainstream app stores, allowing users with devices to discover and download your games," Prior said. "

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