When we start developing VR content, as I explained on my previous article[1], it’s very important to keep in mind who will be your target audience and what kind of distribution channels you choose.

Nowadays, there are many online solutions that facilitate the distribution process. Many of them already have a wide range of customers, which helps reaching a greater audience for a new product launch. Game stores like Steam are well established in the market and have a large number of customers who use the platform on a daily basis.

In the virtual reality universe, an important factor to consider by the developers is the choice of the distribution channel to use. Therefore, it is necessary to know:

Which device(s) are you developing the content for;

How many users the store already has and how many could be interested in our game;

How many devices are supported by the store;

How the submission of your work is processed.

This article aims to showcase and analyse the main existing online stores. It also helps to highlight aspects to be considered in order to sell a game such as what costs are associated with distribution and what range of target audience the game can achieve in each platform.

Existing stores for each device type

For each store there are different supported devices:

Steam — HTC Vive, Oculus Rift, others

Oculus Home — Oculus Rift, Oculus Gear

Itch.io — HTC Vive, Oculus Rift

Google Playstore — Cardboard, Daydream headset

Now, let’s analyse each one.

Steam

Steam is the most well-known online platform for PC game distribution. It was created by Valve and emerged in 2003 as a legal alternative for piracy, providing quick game updates and friendly prices. The strength of Steam is the large number of users who use the platform to shop and play online. Steam usually has a daily average of 13.222.687 online users connected simultaneously [2].

This platform is available in 254 countries and contains about 11.829 games in its database [3].

The first VR games that were launched were made for the HTC Vive (virtual reality device created by Valve and HTC). These days, the store supports any existing device in the market whether it is HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or other VR headset for desktop.

In order to start selling on Steam, there’s an admission process called Greenlight.

Greenlight is a system that uses steam’s community (customers) to filter which games are worthy of being accepted in the store. In order for this to happen, it is necessary to make a “campaign” for the game, capturing the interest of the community and maintaining a permanent contact with them[4].

There is a one-time fee of 90€ to grant access to Greenlight, which will be given to charity (Childs Play)[5]. Once approved by the community, the Valve team gets in touch with the developers and allows them access to the store. It is important to note that the Valve team also helps establish a release date, as well as a selling price for the game.

Lastly, for every sale you make, Steam gets 30% in royalties.

Oculus Home

Oculus Home is a store exclusively dedicated to VR content for Oculus Rift and Gear VR.

Knowing that Oculus V.R. so far has not revealed the data on how many users use the platform, nor how many units of the CV1 Rift were sold, it is difficult to quantify the store’s success.

I will estimate, by approximation, the number of users who can use this store. To infer this estimation, I will use the data provided by Steam Survey and SteamSpy. I will use Job Simulator to find a base number of VR users in general, because it is the VR game with the largest number of players and it’s sold on Steam:

We know that Job Simulator has 117,840 ± 9,146 players [6];

Using the data that Steam provides about its customers’ hardware, we know that 30% of users use VR devices and 10% are Oculus Rift users [7];

By making the number of Job Simulator players as our base number then we can estimate that there are ± 39,241 users with Oculus Rift. [8]

The number obtained is a mere estimation, but it is one way to predict how many users have the devices supported by this store and can actually use it.

With this estimate we can affirm that this store has about 66% less users than Steam. This is one of the downsides of only allowing their own headsets (Rift and Gear) and not care for HTC Vive or Cardboard users.

In order to be able to sell in this store, it is necessary to create a developer account. There is no fee associated to open the account. You then have to fill out the data related to the promoter company, in order to sell the content submitted.

With the previous step completed, all data relating to the application is filled out and subjected to a review. This review is a very time consuming process, lasting up to a few months until the approval or denial of the submission request to the store. [9]

I couldn’t find any official information about the percentage of royalties that Oculus takes for each sale.

Google Playstore

In 2015 Google estimated that were about 1.4 billion Android devices active worldwide [10]. So, whoever has a smartphone with the Android operating system, knows this app store very well. With the appearance of the Cardboard and now Daydream, Google is betting on VR mobile.

Any smartphone that runs android can access this store, which is a great way to reach a larger audience. Unfortunately, to run VR apps the smartphone needs a gyroscope, a high-end processor and a minimum full-HD resolution screen, which is why low-end smartphones are automatically excluded. Another problem that may arise is the fact that this store has many applications and it is not often possible to highlight our application in particular.

The first Daydream ready smartphones are Google Pixel and Pixel XL. They were released in October 2016 and are estimated to sell about 3 million units by the end of the year [11]. So, in the near future Daydream smartphones will become mainstream and provide a much better VR experience than the current one.

To access the store, it is necessary to create an account and initially pay 25€ fee [12]. Once the fee is paid, apps can be submitted freely and, after a short time, they are available in the store.

Google also collects 30% in royalties for each purchase made. [13]

itch.io

The itch.io offers an online store for indie developers and they can submit their content freely.

To access the store, simply create an account without any initial fees. The method of selling the games is pay what you want above the minimum. In other words, the customer can buy the game for a minimum price set by the developer or give a higher value, in order to help and encourage developers to continue the work.

The platform collects 0.30€ + 2.9% for each transaction, but lets the developer choose between two options: with each purchase, get the money right away or choose a later date to receive the accumulated earnings, until then [14].

Conclusion

In my opinion, the store that offers the best conditions is Steam. Despite the costs of entry and royalties, its large VR audience (both HTC vive and Oculus Rift owners) will eventually compensate for the entrance fees in that store. Furthermore, when we gain access to the store, the campaign was already approved by users who were willing to support the game. This factor makes it easier to get the first sales.

On the mobile side the best choice is undoubtedly the Google Playstore. It supports all mobile headsets and the Daydream platform promises to deliver better VR experiences. Through this store we can reach thousands of users in an instant, but you have to efficiently promote your app/game.

References

1 — https://virtualrealitypop.com/start-a-vr-demo-using-the-unreal-engine-63d31eeaf784

2 — http://store.steampowered.com/stats/?l=portuguese (Seen on 22/11/2016)

3 — http://steamspy.com/#tab-graphs (Seen on 22/11/2016)

4 — http://steamcommunity.com/workshop/about/?appid=765&section=faq

5 — http://store.steampowered.com/app/219820/?l=english

6 — https://steamspy.com/app/448280 (Seen on 22/11/2016)

7 — http://store.steampowered.com/hwsurvey (Seen on 22/11/2016)

8 — http://www.roadtovr.com/htc-vive-sales-figures-data-100000-steamspy-data/

9 — https://developer3.oculus.com/documentation/publish/latest/

10 — http://www.androidcentral.com/google-says-there-are-now-14-billion-active-android-devices-worldwide

11 — http://www.forbes.com/sites/ewanspence/2016/11/29/google-pixel-xl-2016-sales/#607a2f7f29bf

12 — https://developer.android.com/distribute/googleplay/start.html

13 — https://support.google.com/googleplay/android-developer/answer/112622?hl=en

14 — https://itch.io/docs/creators/payments

image

First Image: