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Quest2 - Subscription for Apps Coming

kevinw729
Honored Visionary


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49 REPLIES 49

Anonymous
Not applicable

Unfortunately I started with FitXR before trying BoxVR. So I got used to FitXR right away. 

Money made from advertisements and money made from subscriptions all count. I'm not sure you can separate them so distinctly. Advertising is definitely subsidising free services but I don't think you can say that subscribers aren't. It's just as arguable that adverts subsidise the paid service... even if that paid service is void of adverts,,, the money coming in form advertising to free users, counts towards the company's profits so subscriptions could be more expensive without them.

 

In the case of Strava, I've looked all over my app and there are no adverts in its free version that I can find... apart from the advert to upgrade to its premium service. That doesn't mean that other providers are the same, some will rely on advertising to a greater or lesser extent.

 

Another example is paid for TV. In the case of Sky subscribing to a service doesn't eliminate adverts. But I guess for some providers it does. Each provider has their own model.

 

In the case of game subscriptions, the advertising seems to be the same for both purchaser and subscriber. The provider advertising its games equally to both. Money coming in from either stream will obviously be compared by the provider and they'll look to balance those streams to an extent (I assume) but if subscriptions make a lot of money, they have a choice... either abandon sales via the traditional route or maintain choice and just accept one model is more profitable. So far providers of games seem to be maintaining choice. And if there's more money coming in, more games get developed and that benefits purchaser and subscriber alike, but one group of people would be contributing more.

 

I don't really see much of a downside as its currently being implemented. But the upside is devs having an easier route to provide services that are outside of the single purchase model. Services that are wholly suited to subscriptions, as I say, like live fitness tutoring, race leagues or maybe ongoing tutoring type experiences.

 

These are things that are unlikely to exist without subs. Advertising could possibly fill some of the gap but I doubt it would bridge all of it. In my case, the more I'm advertised at, the less likely I am to use the service... even if it's free.

Anonymous
Not applicable

The subscription model isn't anything for me. I will stop investing in the oculus vr ecosystem. Some paid applications aren't used at regular basis. Even the oculus quest is sometimes not used for some weeks by me. And then I should pay every month? I have checked my bought software in the oculus store. Around 5 already paid products switched to the subscription based model. If every subscriptions cost around 10 bucks. That are 50 bucks a month and up to 600 Bucks for a year. FitXR I did like because of the DLCs they had. So you were able to extend the app if you did need new content. But now?
The last weeks I had planned to invest in an oculus quest 2, but with the subscription model, no way. I am a friend of cost control, but with the subscription model it will easiely happen that you pay for something, which you did not use.

@skoehnert I think you're misunderstanding what's being introduced. Maybe that was the intention of the thread.

 

Oculus aren't introducing subscriptions to replace purchases. They're giving devs the option to have subscriptions for services that the devs are providing,

 

Devs can do this now but they have to do it outside of the Oculus store through their own website. That's the part that's changing, they'll now be able to do it within the store... just like Steam allows..

Anonymous
Not applicable

That's maybe. In steam I know this normally beforehand. and not months after the buy.
But please understand, that I feel a bit scammed. Maybe not from oculus side. But nevertheless the mentioned numbers are correct. For example take the app FitXR. I have bought the app and several DLC's. Yeah, the developers mention I will not loose something. BUT I will also gain no new content without any subscription. As far as I have seen all previous available DLC's has been removed. The difference is had I known before that the app will switch to a subscription based model I wouldn't have bought it.  There would have been also no problem from my side, if they had used the following procedure: They had abandoned the app at the current state and leave it with all dlcs in the store (so it would be possible to use the old version and extend it bit by bit (if needed) without any subscription). And publish parallel a new version as a new product with the subscription model. Most pc software which switched to a cloud based subscription model have used this model. But FitXR didn't, so I feel a bit uneasy about the future of the oculus store. And I feel a also a little bit forced by FitXR, which I will abandon if all DLC's has been used/played for some time and gets boring.
That's not a  problem at oculus side. However it makes the oculus quest ecosystem far less attractive in the future, if a high percentage of the apps in the store gets subscription based. At the moment I will withold any buy in the app store and observe the development in the app store. How much apps

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

To make matters worse, it sounds like FitXR (formerly BoxVR) now requires a subscription to use the app. Was it a paid app before? Not sure, since I didn't really look into it too deep before. But if it was, it sounds like the following happened:

 

1. Box VR launches with a flat price

2. DLC is released, each with their own purchase price

3. Box VR got renamed to Fit XR

4. Now the app is being changed to a subscription service that you have to pay a monthly or yearly fee to use even if you had previously bought it (and the dlc) outright

 

And that is kind of scummy, if you ask me. Can you imagine the uproar that would be raised if Beat Saber did something like that?

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

I understand that and I agree if a dev makes changes that reduce the functionality of an app that was paid for,

the protests need to be directed at the dev if that's the case.

 

FitXR introducing membership fees was a thing, whether Oculus introduced the mechanism for subscriptions within the store or not.

 

I'm not saying all devs will behave as we want them to but subscriptions are going to happen inside or outside of the store. For consistency and increased visibility of subscriptions, maybe it's better to have it within the same place that the app is purchased.

Actually BoxVR is still a thing, and can be purchased and played on SteamVR:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/641960/BOXVR/

 

FitXR is their subscription based service, but BoxVR is still a separate piece of software. At least for now.

Pixie40
Expert Trustee

That's funny. The Quest app got renamed to FitXR and is now subscription based, while the Rift and Steam versions are still Box VR and are buy-to-own? Why the frell would they do that?

 

No, really. I just checked the Rift and Quest stores. The Rift store has BoxVR, which costs $29.99 and has two DLC for $9.99. It doesn't have FitXR. The Quest store on the other hand has FitXR, which is free to install (for a 7 day trial period) then charges a monthly subscription. They basically decided that only the Quest version needs to be renamed and made into a subscription service.

 

EDIT: Just checked Steam, and they didn't add a subscription service there either. Which means they did only convert one version into their subscription model app.

Lo, a quest! I seek the threads of my future in the seeds of the past.

Anonymous
Not applicable

No on Quest the App FitXR is the successor of BoxVR and the subscription model has been added the last days.
The BoxVR App in steam seems to be received the last update at december 2019. So it seems that the developer had stopped the development for the steam version at first. On Quest -> Box VR -> Renamed FitXR(without subscription) and some DLCs -> And since the some days FitXR with subscription (and a lot of hints with: coming soon).