Oculus CTO John Carmack has said publicly that he’d love to open up Oculus Quest to Android apps to boost the headset’s usefulness, but admits he’s “not winning” the debate internally at Facebook.

Although the Quest home environment looks nothing like the home screen of your Android phone, the headset actually runs the Android operating system underneath it all. Allowing users to install and run Android apps on the headset—if just in a ‘flat’ mode on a virtual screen controlled by a laser pointer—could drastically boost the value of the headset by bringing all manner of video players, web browsers, productivity tools, utilities, and even flat games to the device.

Android apps running on Quest is apparently something Oculus’ own CTO has been arguing for internally.

Legendary developer John Carmack—who for several years held the role of Oculus CTO but now maintains a less formal “consulting CTO” arrangement—said during his Facebook Connect keynote in September that he doesn’t believe Oculus will be able to convince a meaningful portion of Android developers to rewrite their applications specifically for the headset. Instead, he says, the company needs to find a way to bring existing Android applications to Quest.

[…] it also works cooperatively with sort of our Android applications like Fandango or the other things there, and that’s still one of the things that absolutely kills me, where I think we need more Android applications.

We do not have a sorted out strategy—I’ve got a long spiel about this that I’m not gonna have time to get to—but we have all these existence-proofs and examples of… Microsoft tried really really hard to move all apps to a brand-new system [UWP and/or Windows Phone] and it just… doesn’t work out… I don’t think it’s gonna work out for us.

I think that we need to support our Android apps [on the headset] in a broader sense. We have progressive web apps as the backstop for everything, but on the mobile platforms the progressive web apps […] generally lose out [in terms of performance] to native applications, and we care more about performance in VR than in mobile systems, so I think we need a solution there, and we haven’t sorted it out.

If Oculus allowed existing Android apps onto Quest, it could radically improve the usefulness of the headset by allowing users access to a much wider range of apps. They wouldn’t be ‘native’ to VR of course, but it’s easy to understand how much more value users would see from the headset if they could load up, say, the Disney Plus app on a big virtual screen or run their favorite web browser on the headset instead of being stuck with the default. And wouldn’t it make sense to be able to run the Facebook app on Quest?

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Because Quest is already running Android, it would be trivial from a technical standpoint to get Android apps up and running on the headset, and there’s a few ways Facebook could approach it.

For one, it could simply allow access to the Google Play store on the headset, allowing users to download apps they already own through the store, and then project those apps onto a flat screen inside the headset.

But it seems highly unlikely that Facebook would take this approach, as the company has clearly followed the ‘walled garden’ playbook of making the Oculus app store allowed on the headset. Instead of the Google Play store, Facebook could begin accepting ‘flat’ Android apps into the Oculus store and allow them to be distributed that way.

The company could also skip its own store and choose to allow users to sideload any Android APKs they have access too, leaving the feature mostly in the hands of power-users.

Unfortunately, we may not see any of these avenues pursued, despite Carmack’s insistence. In a recent tweet on the topic he noted, “I continue to argue for [Android apps on Quest], but so far, I’m not winning.”

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • R3ST4RT

    I would love a Discord app for the quest as that is the platform I use to voice chat with friends. I don’t always play VR with them so having the ability to continue talking with them even if I’m playing on a separate platform would be nice. I can do that over Oculus link right now but the majority of my VR library is on the Quest.

    • Definitely. one of the major reason why I don’t play more multiplayer VR is because everytime we try, we’re in for 15-20 minutes of thinkering to make the damn audio work.

  • xyzs

    “The company could also skip its own store and choose to allow users to sideload any Android APKs they have access too, leaving the feature mostly in the hands of power-users.”

    LOL, and they could also open source Quest OS and make all their patent for free..

    • Eagleman

      You can currently just load an android apk and play it on a 2D screen on the Quest…

    • Jan Ciger

      That is the case already, the sideloading of Android apks certainly works, even though it is clunky (guess why SideQuest exists). So the only laughingstock here is you.

      Even the OS is mostly open source as it is standard Android. The non-standard bits are the Oculus tracking system and the drivers for some of the hardware, plus the Facebook services like the UI, telemetry, Oculus store. Which are all regular applications and not “OS” per se.

    • Daily Beatings

      “LOL, and they could also open source Quest OS”

      There’s no Quest OS. It’s just a modified version of Nougat (7.1) AOSP, which is already open source.

  • Wow dude

    Pubg mobile on a big vr flat screen please

    • William Wallace

      I made this arguement with heaney years ago, pubg alone, even if 2d on a vr hmd, would be a winner. At some point carmack will be proven right, facebook just got started too late to catch up with 2 million plus google apps. I see some game developers for VR have actually left VR and now do pancake apps. The money will never be in VR when facebook stops subsidizing it, not even in 10 years. while those who make a google store app that goes on billions of phones, and can work on a small vr niche market too will be the long term winners.

    • Daily Beatings

      You can already run this on the Quest if you use Amazon Appstore since Amazon has their own framework, no google services required. Caveat is that during installation you have to cycle the screen off and on with the power button to get the install buttons to show up at the bottom of the dialog.

  • William Wallace

    I have access to the 2 million plus google apps on my google daydream lenovo HMD. That is what will kill the quest, software wins in the end. A few hundred apps on the quest store is nothing next to the google app library.

    • Blaexe

      Ironically Daydream got killed though while Quest is winning… so your logic is kinda flawed

      • William Wallace

        Don’t make it personal. Carmack is looking at the long term multi year picture, as am I. Visualize the ecosystems several years out, not just weeks or months. AR and VR. The facebook storefront with a few hundred apps will lose longterm to the several million apps at the google store. But hey if you want to argue with carmacks logic that it is VERY IMPORTANT to get those 2 million google apps on facebook hardware (or else) then be my guest. ;)

        • Blaexe

          I think you’re wrong. Make no mistake, right now it would be cool to have all these Android apps on Quest – but things will change. As AR/VR becomes bigger, 2D apps will become less and less relevant.

          Not having standard android apps will not hinder the Quests success in any meaningful way – both short term and long term.

          • William Wallace

            2D apps becoming less relevant? there are billions of cellphones that have developers making software for them, there might be a few million quests at best in a few years. I am being generous too. Carmack knows having access to those millions of apps on billions of devices is critical, I know it too. You don’t know that though, but maybe time will prove who is right. You do realize that facebook is losing a ton of money subsidizing the quest hardware and software ecosystem, actually paying for games to get made, not making any profit? I must agree with carmack and disagree with you for now, without those millions of apps developed for billions of devices, things are not going to end well for Zuck.

          • Blaexe

            Of course 2D apps will become less relevant as XR rises. It won’t happen overnight but gradually. More and more apps will get native XR ports anyway.

            AR/VR is a completely new medium and need its own apps. I mean, YOU were mentioning the “long term multi year picture”. I wouldn’t be surprised to see AR glasses replacing smartphones in 10 years or so.

            Your argument is similar to claiming that early smartphones needed Windows compatibility, which clearly was not the case.

          • William Wallace

            in 2015 at a VR conference, Karl Krantz of svvr told me all gaming would be in VR within 4 years, it was just too compelling according to him. Facebook with billion dollar acquisitions would change the world. I bought him a drink and told him you are gonna look like a fool in 2020. Long term, I am siding with Carmack, even though you keep taking the side against him, without those millions of Apps, zuck loses.

          • Bob

            If you want android apps go and use an android smartphone. What on earth are you using a VR device for?

    • dk

      well obviously opening any android app inside any vr app will be awesome ….but from the point of view of facebook that’s like giving google money instead of them getting the money people could be spending on their store …and vr is still a small market for them not to care about that

      but u can open android apps using quest if u really want to….so that’s something

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      • William Wallace

        It was never a war over hardware, that will normalize over time, but who will control the storefronts. Google with 2 million apps, Apple, Sony, MSFT, Amazon Etc. Even palmer luckey has got back into the storefront business funding sidequest. Carmack knows that in our AR/VR future, he who controls the storefront, controls the universe. Facebook tried, but will ultimately fail. I really thank zuckerberg for throwing so much money into the industry though, even if his hopes of being the number 1 storefront for ar/vr is a pipedream next to the likes of google.

        • dk

          facebook is the fastest growing right now …and google r not even taking part into vr at the moment

          • AR Core brewing very nicely, Google still very much in the fight, but playing long game.

            Readying Android ecosystem for smartphone replacement -> AR glasses

            Apple has similar trajectory using AR Kit as springboard.

            As Sumner Redstone of Viacom famously said, “Content is king. Distribution is king!”

            Ownership of both gives keys to the immersive kingdom.

          • dk

            daydream was shut down …ar headsets won’t be able to give u what vr can give u ….not in the next few years at least

            apple and google might have a small slim all day long battery life some sort of smart glasses for the next 3 years at least….nothing like what aria will be in 2021 and it will still be a bit limited

            the main thing is there was no reason to shut down daydream and they could have had a 6dof headset and controllers at the same time as facebook and the devs could have just ported over their games or similar games ….but they just gave up on it for no reason other than the leadership apparently wasn’t fully dedicated to making ar/vr a reality

            but yeah things could change ….I’m just talking about the state of things up to now

          • I’m not assuming Google nor Apple will have anything to replace smartphone until late 2020’s/early 2030’s.

            It’s a view shared by many technical analyst. It’s a long game, perhaps smart to let Facebook burn billions of dollars on VR

          • dk

            facebook will have a 6dof real ar headset in 2021 …apparently
            …..and according to the leaks soon apple will have most likely small shiny all day wear smart glasses accessory ….because they want to sell millions of them to anyone …not just vr/ar enthusiasts
            ……who knows when google and others will make smart glasses and real ar headsets

            …..I don’t really bother with long term predictions

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Daydream was shut down for a very good reason: lack of acceptance. Google had sort of an accidental success with Cardboard, which was widely adopted. The NYTimes alone gave away more than 1M viewers, others did too, and by late 2016 the Cardboard Android app alone had been installed more than 10M times. Google then tried to replicate that success by creating a simplified form of Gear VR, with very specific requirements for the phone to make up for the lack of sensors in the viewer.

            This failed on multiple levels: 1. almost no phone manufacturers were willing to make the necessary changes (it required rather complex/expensive changes to the display controller to reduce latency) for a very small market, 2. compared to Cardboard users couldn’t run the Daydream software on older phones at their own risk and 3. they sold the viewer with a 3DoF controller for USD 79, while a simple Cardboard V1 was available for less than USD 2, or well below USD 1 if you ordered a large number. Consequently most people never got a Daydream capable phone just by buying a new smartphone. The few that did weren’t willing to pay a lot for the viewer just to give it a try. And due to the lack of market few developers created titles.

            One can claim that Google fucked it up by assuming they could force the higher costs and requirements into the market, which caused Daydream to fail. But you cannot claim that they shut it down without a reason, it was hardly alive on phones and the few stand alone headsets with limited 3DoF controllers were pretty much dead once the Quest appeared. They basically couldn’t compete with Facebook money.

            I own the original Daydream, still use a Daydream capable phone, and have developed software for it. I actually believe that there is still a marked for phone based VR, and millions of simple VR viewers are still sold in China. But it has to leverage phones people actually own. Google open sourced Cardboard, but not Daydream, and unfortunately they never allowed using the Daydream controller outside of Daydream or licensed it to anyone else, so phone based VR will be stuck with view based controls. I blame Google for making a lot of strategic mistakes, but not for no longer wanting to throw money and energy at something the market had clearly rejected.

          • dk

            yes and what I was saying was if they wanted to they could have had a standalone 6dof headset and controllers after lenovo mirage solo ….at the same time as facebook and if they did ….they would have had mostly the same games and apps unless facebook pays some of the developers for exclusives

    • polysix

      Stopped reading at google daydream.. LMAO.

      Quest 2 has nothing to fear, not even from index and G2 much less that piece of trash.

    • d0x360

      ROFL… This post is hilarious. You win joke comment of the decade my good sir.

    • marcandrdsilets

      This is probably why Apple is facing bankruptcy a closed ecosystem has proven to be a failure. (sarcasm here)

    • Ardra Diva

      Hey, i liked my GearVR a lot too, but we’re both talking about Triassic visors here, and we’re now in the Jurassic.

  • VR5

    An Android store by Facebook for the Quest would allow them to take a 30% cut on those apps. Customers might have to double dip but gamers aren’t new to this practice, rebuying games for a different way to play them (PC -> Switch). Also, they might get games they didn’t consider before on a small phone screen.

    Sideloading apps actually has gotten worse on Quest compared to Go. Smaller (non resizable) 4:3 windows, causing bars for 16:9 content further decreasing the media surface.

    I want stereoscopic 3d mode for side by side apps, like we already have in the browser. I want the Touch controllers to emulate traditional gamepads for Android apps. Hopefully, Infinite Office will ultimately lead to better integration of flat and stereoscopic screen apps.

    • Daily Beatings

      Many of the applications end up in the TV section and will always launch 16:9. For those that don’t use an apk launcher. Firestarter (AppStarter) made for Amazon FireTV, works great plus you can customize it with wallpaper, include/exclude apps in the menu, and install/update Kodi. Many games have bluetooth control support. I have a SteelSeries controller that I use with Asphalt 8.

      • VR5

        Are you on the latest firmware? The android apps are accessible from the TV section yes, but they open in a smaller 4:3 window now, in the home environment. On Go (and maybe earlier Quest firmware, I didn’t use OTV much on Quest before the new model) they display in a mountain forest environment on a large 16:9 screen.

        • Prezes Dyrektor

          Seems a no brainer to have a resizable screen for Oculus TV eventually (why it’s not yet there is beyond me, putting a small screen in front of a user in a virtual environment is plain dumb)

        • Daily Beatings

          All of my apps open in 16:9 when launched from the TV section and yes I’m on the latest firmware. It could be that AppStarter changed the default even though I did not open the app though the launcher. So there’s the answer to getting 16:9 all the time.

          • VR5

            I’m gonna try that, thanks.

          • Daily Beatings

            The only caveat to using AppStarter is that for some reason the space bar on the virtual keyboard does not work. It use to work, but then stopped with update 17. Oculus knows about this since there are support tickets and bug reports open on their forums. It’s not a show stopper, but if you need the space bar you have to open the app from the unknown apps section or cut/paste a space as needed.

  • Jan Ciger

    Android apps work on Quest already, with the limitation that Quest runs a bit old Android version – I believe Quest 1 runs Android 7.1 or so, not sure what is Quest 2 running. So this is really a business/political decision not a technical one.

    If you have an apk of an android app, you can sideload it and it will likely work just fine, displaying as a floating window in front of you, and then you use a laser pointer (controller) for touch.

    Of course, you have to manage to launch it first, that is. And that’s the main issue for “mere mortals” who don’t know how/want to use the command line – how to install and launch these apps.

    The main problem is access to Google Play so that you don’t have to sideload everything and then updating the Oculus UI/launcher so that Android apps not publishing the Oculus-compatible manifest and/or not coming from the Oculus store show in the menus so that the user can actually launch them. Right now they don’t (not even in the unknown sources tab) and launching such app requires some adb shell equilibristics.

    In contrast, Pico Neo 2 shows and launches regular Android apps straight from the main menu, along with any installed VR apps (that’s perhaps the other extreme because there is no indication of what is a VR and what is a “pancake” app).

    • benz145

      Any resources you can point to for loading/launching Android APKs on Quest? I think this might have been made more difficult for Quest 2 than Go/Quest 1; but I’d like to look into it.

      • Daily Beatings

        I use Firestarter, which is an APK launcher for the Amazon FireTV plus APK Pure in download only mode since the built in installer tends to fail. For installing I use APK Manager and for split apks SAI. You can use a file manager to install normal apks, but the other apps are more convenient.

        I also have Amazon Appstore installed, but it’s a little tricky to get the apks to install. You have to cycle the screen off and on during apk installation to get the install buttons to show up at the bottom of the dialog.

      • Daily Beatings

        I use Firestarter, which is an APK launcher for the Amazon FireTV plus APK Pure in download only mode since the built in installer tends to fail. For installing I use XAPK Manager and for split apks SAI. You can use a file manager to install normal apks, but the other apps are more convenient.

        I also have Amazon Appstore installed, but it’s a little tricky to get the apks to install. You have to cycle the screen off and on during apk installation to get the install buttons to show up at the bottom of the dialog.

  • GordonFreeman

    How about we just have a wireless headset with only top titled games an not watered down In-app purchased crap Android games.

    • benz145

      The point isn’t really about Android games, it’s about expanding the utility of the headset with apps like Discord, Twitch, Spotify, calculators, alarms, smarthome, etc. And hey, if people want to play flat Android games on a big virtual screen, why not let them?

      • GordonFreeman

        I get that and that is my point exactly, we could do without all the cheap ass nasty phone app crap and concentrate on having a more game console/PC based VR headset with quality games.

        If I wanted that kind of experience I would have just brought a cheap VR headset for my phone!

  • Ad

    Total control is more important than making the headset useful I guess. Honestly I think the 3 reasons basically are that they don’t want 2D content to crowd out or prevent spatial content from being made, they don’t want to deal with performance concerns, and they don’t want to risk a lot of competition or new stores that threaten their control.

  • psuedonymous

    “For one, it could simply allow access to the Google Play store on the headset”
    Not simply, access to Google Play Services has a lot of hoops to jump through (Quest does not meet several of the basic requirements from the Android Compatibility definition Document, due to being a HMD and not a handheld device).
    But even if Google Play services were omitted, there’s still the headache of dealing with an entire Android software stack that needs to be massaged into targeting a surface that can then be grabbed by another separate compositing stack to be shown as a ‘virtual touchscreen’. That’s not a one-time cost, that’s something that requires ongoing maintenance above-and-beyond any other android device (due to all the extra compatibility finagling to make things work in a way they were not designed to).

    It’s possible, but is not not easy and has a significant and ongoing cost associated with it. It;s not as simple as “well we do this internally for one or two apps, so just ship it to everyone for everything!”.

  • kontis

    I’m surprised by Carmack’s comments here. They are illogical.

    He must be aware that the ONLY reason Zuckeberg wanted to enter HMD business was to not miss out on the next big consumer platform. It’s not a secret, he said it himself. Quest would never exist if the plan was to be a subcontractor for Apple or Google.

    So this whole discussion is simply ridiculous, because if Facebook’s attempts will be a failure like UWP then the whole thing simply never mattered in the first place. The alternative was incopatibile with Facebook’s vision, so why even talk about it.

    This is Carmack’s surprised Pikachu meme. Come on, man.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      Why wouldn’t they use Android, it’s an open source OS which is well documented and pretty mature and easily customizable..

      • NullReference

        So is Linux, in fact Android runs on the Linux kernel. I would argue that they would have been better off with their own Linux distro rather than tying themselves to a Java VM for apps.

        • renta

          if they really want to use linux it will take time which is what “Facebook own OS” news is for

    • Ad

      Yup. I think they know enough to see that making their own OS would have thrown off devs, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the Quest 3 has its own OS and even its own silicon. Anyone touching facebook, including Qualcomm, is just arming their future competitor.

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    • James Cobalt

      In the web dev world, Facebook is famously supportive of open source technologies. Much of the web is driven by work they’ve put out into the wild. It’s not that far fetched, from a company culture standpoint. But yes, pretty far fetched from a company strategy standpoint. But so would be creating their own operating system. A fork of *nix? Sure. But not something from the ground up. That’s a herculean effort that will scare off developers, make integrating hardware more difficult, and have no profit advantage over perfectly suitable alternatives (like a custom version of Android).

    • Ardra Diva

      I think Zuck’s interest in VR was that his software and algorithms could glean way more information about us in 360 than it could from a flat picture. Never forget WE are the product.

  • Daily Beatings

    I already have a dozen or so Android apps on my Quest downloaded with APK Pure and installed using either APK Manager or SAI. However the issue is Google services are not available, so most of the games will not run. I’ve attempted to install Google Services several times including the alternative microG with no success due to the locked boot loader.

    As a workaround I installed Amazon Appstore since they have their own framework. This allows me to run games like Asphalt 8 complete with DLC through my Amazon account. Choices are limited since Amazon will only let me install games and apps that will run up to Nougat (7.0).

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  • d0x360

    Carmack should leave oculus and go work for valve. He would have the freedom he needs to make VR as good as possible. His hands are tied at fb plus people are going to change to a different hmd because of the need to link accounts

    • Andrew Jakobs

      At the moment he already has all the freedom to do what he wants, he is just as an consultant for VR by his own choice.. And I’m pretty sure he gets paid very well..

      • d0x360

        Carmack is a guy who wants to work and make new things. He’s already rich and while I’m sure he loves making money..like I said he’s a creator.

        I’m also sure if he were to go anywhere he would probably be paid the same or more. Plus at Facebook he’s just another employee instead of being a partner somewhere else.

        If he’s complaining in public about anything…he’s not happy doing what he’s doing.

        • Andrew Jakobs

          Well, he’s still at Facebook, so there is something he likes about the place where he works…

          • d0x360

            I’m sure he’s under contract until a certain time so he probably doesn’t have a choice. It’s no different than when bethesda bought id. When his contract was up and idtech was essentially finished for doom 2016 he left because he had a new love and that was vr.

            All I’m saying is Carmack is silent when he’s happy. Brining up something simple like they won’t let us use Android apps is full of subtext.

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Probably the fact that Facebook is the only company currently willing to throw billions at VR to establish it in the consumer market even if they won’t see a return for years.

            If all he wanted to do was to create advanced VR systems, he wouldn’t have to work for anybody. He managed to create a company building actual rockets, so paying for a development team shouldn’t be an issue. But to establish a global consumer platform with hardware development, production and distribution, you have to be very large. Currently you basically have to be Facebook, Google, Apple, Microsoft or Amazon, or you have to work for/with one of them.

          • Andrew Jakobs

            You mean that rocket company that’s out of business for a few years?

          • Christian Schildwaechter

            Yes, the company he founded in 2000 that never took venture capital, instead being fully funded by Carmack till 2006 with a ridiculously low budget of about USD 2.5M and kept running until 2013 by winning prizes from a number design challenges, doing paid research and an additional USD 1M per year from Carmack in the two last years. Considering that SpaceX got an initial investment of USD 20M just to get started, then collected additional billions later and got very lucrative contracts from NASA and the military, it is extremely impressive what Armadillo Aerospace achieved. Their designs won against competitors with budgets a magnitude higher.

            Even if it cost him millions, Carmack’s rocket ventures were a good indicator how much he can achieve on a minuscule budget. In 2019 he was estimated as owning about USD 50M, so I’m pretty sure that if all he wanted was to build the best possible VR headset, he would have the skills and resources to do that without Facebook.

    • Ad

      Obviously. They’re much more in line with his way of doing things. He could just sit and add things to SteamVR and they’d be shipped the next day. He’s a weird person but he’d be happier there.

      • d0x360

        Definitely.. I mean he left bethesda because vr was his new passion. The guy revolutionized engine design many times and then he started shooting rockets into the sky lol.

        Valves structure would be perfect for him but I’m sure his contract has a no compete clause for a year or 2 so if he did leave he wouldn’t be able to work on vr stuff… I assume.

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        Carmack was the one that pushed Gear VR and Minecraft VR. He is primarily interested in VR for the masses, not high end VR. His argument for allowing regular Android apps is also a very pragmatic one: people want to do regular things in VR, we cannot expect everything to be ported into a capable VR app, so lets pick the simple, unoptimised option that makes VR usefull for more people much faster.

        Valve is the opposite: they don’t care about the masses, they only do high end. They don’t subsidize hardware to reach more users, and even people who are willing to pay the high price couldn’t get one. They threw millions at Half-Life: Alyx, knowing that they wouldn’t make back the money. They are the quintessential enthusiast VR company, basically unwilling to compromise on quality, even if this means only a few thousand people will buy the hardware or it will take years go get anywhere.

        If Carmack wants to push VR to become large enough to create a sustainable market for developers, where companies can create games at the scale he did at id software without losing money, it makes a lot more sense to use his influence to push Facebook in the right direction, instead of getting his personal playground at Valve.

        • Ad

          First thing I would say is not to use “the masses” in these conversations. This is corporate capture of a new computing platform, not making a giant tech driven soup kitchen.

  • Andrew Jakobs

    it could simply allow access to the Google Play store

    Also one can’t just add the Google Play Store to the android edition you’re running, you have to supply much more and be compliant with Google..

  • I would want this, bring over a Android File Manger and easily transfer files over to the device.

  • flamaest

    Clearly, he’s not the Chief of anything if he can’t impose that sort of requirement. FB just gave him a fill-in position of CTO-title until Facebook decides to replace him with somebody else.

  • George Kostov

    This already kind of works if you compile an app yourself. I randomly discovered it when compiling an Android game I was working on and my Quest was connected to my PC. The build was pushed to the Quest and the game was playable on a 2D plane inside the Quest, I was very surprised. I guess the real issue here is opening up the platform to published content.

  • Adrian Meredith

    I’m seeing a pattern here, this has to be the 3rd or 4th time Carmack has said something along the lines of “I’m trying but they won’t listen”. Seriously FB, JC is someone you listen to. It sounds like theres so much internal politics in Oculus which is really concerning.

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      If only Valve had hired him instead of Abrash. Maybe he would have stayed and actually enjoyed his job.

  • Well, technically, it already works this way: if you build a 2D app in Unity for Android, you can see it inside the big screen of the Quest. It’s just a matter of making this easy for people.