Meta is paying developers $2.5 million to make mobile games for Horizon

Meta might not be as gung-ho on the ‘verse that changed its name these days, but it’s still pouring money into Horizon, the virtual reality destination that was supposed to be its foothold in the internet of the future.

Infamously legless Horizon has always had ties to Meta’s VR arm Oculus, whose devices are used to access its interconnected web of virtual entertainment, meeting, etc spaces. But as fervor around the metaverse has died off (and, crucially, people have returned to the office, when a big part of Meta’s pitch was facilitating workspaces during social distancing) Meta has shifted focus to the gaming side of Horizon.

And it really, really wants other people to do that, too.

So much so that it’s offering $2.5 million to creators who make polished, “genre-focused” games for deployment in Horizon.

With a new Horizon Creator Competition, it’s asking developers to make games that will work “seamlessly” across both VR headsets and mobile devices–not a surprise considering how into mobile games competitors like TikTok and YouTube have been. (In fact, YouTube just pushed its mobile game division, Playables, by encouraging streamers to play them for viewers via its new virtual/horizontal simulstreaming tool.)

What’s interesting is that Meta says it will accept all genres of game, but is especially seeking titles like the ones we’ve seen get popular on Roblox in recent years. It mentions “simulation” games, like tycoon titles and incrementals where users tap/click on assets to generate XP/revenue to push them to the next level, as well as “roleplay & avatar sim” games, with a specific mention for dress-up games (hello, Dress to Impress).

Meta says it will judge submitted titles by their visual and sound designs, their user experience designs, their overall technical expertise, and by how social experiences are wrapped in. There’s one last requirement, which will make a lot of sense considering Facebook–er, Meta–is very big on bandwagoning: Developers must use “at least one GenAI feature in building your world.”

Devs behind the top four games will each get $200,000. The remaining $1.7 million will be divvied up between 31 devs “across multiple exciting categories,” Meta said in an announcement.

Those who want to participate must have their games finished and sent in by Oct. 30. Winners will be announced by Nov. 13.

This competition makes sense to us. Meta wants to chase the audience that’s spending millions of hours in (and millions of dollars on) Roblox games. It also wants to challenge the mobile game craze on YouTube and TikTok, and push its AI ambitions. We’re always in favor of platforms putting more money directly into creators’ pockets–but we’re curious where Meta will go from here. Which audience will it chase? What shiny thing will keep its attention?