Owlchemy Labs has been a powerhouse of top-selling VR games, so when the Google-owned studio released Dimensional Double Shift in beta last year for free, it wasn’t immediately clear why the studio behind Job Simulator (2016) was making its first stride into freemium territory. With over 500,000 downloads now though, it’s evident they saw the writing on the wall: free-to-play on Quest is more lucrative than ever thanks to Quest 3S.

Like Job Simulator and its sequel Vacation Simulator (2019), Dimensional Double Shift tasks players with jobbing around a patently wacky universe, this time running a combination garage and diner station, where you and three other players can fix up both cars and grub for alien patrons.

There’s a little more under the hood than just being essentially a free-to-play multiplayer version of Job Simulator though. While Dimensional Double Shift replicates the sort of immersive and easy to pick up mechanics of the studio’s most successful titles, also being one of the first designed exclusively for hand-tracking, the launch of Quest 3S has seen a large influx of younger users, which undoubtedly has been a big driver.

And as it goes, younger gamers typically spend more time in social games, less money on premium purchases, and more on in-app purchases—meaning free-to-play games are seeing a big boost right now.

To boot, Dimensional Double Shift’s 500,000 download milestone follows a growing trend of veterans and indie studios alike hoping to strike it big with freemium titles, ostensibly aiming to replicate the viral success of Another Axiom’s breakout hit Gorilla Tag, which generated over $100 million in gross revenue last summer.

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“We’re building a social-first platform, and these younger users are more likely to spend time with friends in multiplayer experiences and social hangout apps,” Meta’s Metaverse Content chief Samantha Ryan said last month. “They’re contributing to the rise of free-to-play titles—a pattern historically common on other platforms. We’re also seeing growth of younger users in Horizon Worlds.”

And Meta knows full well it needs a Gorilla Tag—or multiple Gorilla Tags—of its own on Horizon Worlds too. Meta recently announced a $50 million fund to incentivize the creation of new and improved content in Horizon Worlds, aiming to attract developers to build on the social platform what they might otherwise launch as self-contained apps, with the fund designed to pay out bonuses to creators of worlds that drive high visits, retention and in-app purchases.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 4,000 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • Octogod

    With over 500,000 downloads now though, it’s evident they saw the writing on the wall: free-to-play on Quest is more lucrative than ever thanks to Quest 3S.

    500,000 is an astonishingly bad number for a game on every major VR headset during the peak holiday season. And I'll just ignore that you're not lucrative with a free game.

    The average IAP rate is 1-3%. For children it's even lower. Let's say it's 5% here and this is $5, again massive increases against the average. That is $125,000 in four months on every major platform – not enough to cover a single developer.

    To put this into context, Vacation Simulator is the most recent title they dropped numbers for. They sold 1m units at $30. That is revenue of $30m. At the perfect conversion rate, they would need over 100,000,000 downloads to make the same amount of revenue.

    This isn't mobile. You can't drop to free and aim for the billion user market. This is a fire sale wrapped in a press release, as the 30,000,000+ Quests sold are not being used.

    • Great calculations. I agree with you, but I have to correct a couple of things:
      1. Usually, only 1-3% of users buy IAPs, but those users buy MULTIPLE items, compensating all the other ones that do not buy them. It is thanks to these users that the freemium games can survive
      2. If you have a big number of users (and 500,000 downloads is a good number), you can attract the attention of investors and other similar people that can give you money to survive until the XR market has grown enough (hopefully!)

      • Dale

        A couple more things to note:
        1. Only available on Meta Quest platforms, not all major platforms (due to being hand tracking only)
        2. 500k downloads while still in Beta

      • Octogod

        You are absolutely correct on the multiple user engagement, or even higher cost items for whales. I've tried to simplify things a bit, as extra steps like store fees get muddy!

        What is wacky is that Dimensional Double Shift is by Owlchemy, which is Google owned. They can afford to lose money, as their only goal is to show innovation and expertise on titles they hope will build into brands. But if you're an indie dev, who needs the money to survive and don't have Google's PR backing, the odds of you making that 500k download number is (unfortunately) proportionally lower.

  • JB1968

    Looks like you finally slowly grasping the fact Meta Quest strategy is just cripling whole VR industry taking all the disadvantages from Mobile but missing all.the advantages which will end badly not only for Zuck & co. but also for many vr devs that don't try to deliver yet another mobile game.