Oculus Allows Marketplace Freedom for Devs

Alongside launch updates, Oculus confirms the ability for developers to sell content outside Oculus Store.

Over three years ago, the dream of virtual reality was rekindled with the launch of the Oculus Rift kickstarter. In March 2014, Facebook surprised the public with a $2 billion acquistion of the Oculus company. Finally, the release day has arrived, and the public can now get their hands on a Rift of their own.

The Oculus company website posted a blog announcing launch day updates with a heavy focus on Rift developers.

The company recognized that people wanted the ability to make choices. “The Oculus platform and store are designed to provide the best VR experience and content, but we also recognize that people will want to use apps that aren’t available on the Oculus platform or in the store,” they stated.

They’ve decided to go all-in with their approach. “As a developer, you don’t have to be in the Oculus Store – you can sell outside, and when you do that you can you use your own IAP if you prefer, and we don’t take a cut. You can also request keys (royalty free) to sell your Oculus PC app on other stores, while making it available to the community through the Oculus platform.”

For the Oculus Store itself, Concepts and Early Access sections were added to the platform. The Concepts section can help showcase experimental ideas and proof of concepts, while the Early Access section opens community feedback for games and experiences in development.

The blog post also announced the release of Oculus Platform SDK 1.0. This allows additional features like multiplayer matchmaking, peer-to-peer networking, and leaderboards for games and apps. This isn’t to be confused with the Oculus PC SDK 1.3, which also released at the same time. PC SDK 1.3 brings support for the consumer Rift, Asynchronous Timewarp, app lifecycle support, and native integrations with Unity and Unreal Engine’s latest releases.

Did any readers get a Rift on launch day? Share your Virtual Reality experiences in the comments!

Sources:
Official Blog