When Google’s Daydream Virtual Reality became available in October of last year, for the first couple of months, the tech giant worked only with a select group of developers to work on Daydream-compatible apps. Naturally, the approach allowed Google to closely monitor work with its partners and to suggest correct content for the new Daydream platform. This was also deliberately done by Google to limit the number of apps a user could download for the new headset ecosystem using the Google Play Store. But that’s all about to change because starting Tuesday, Google opened up everything to any developer that can create apps along the company’s guidelines and submit their Daydream compatible apps. This quick turn-around in its policy now creates a dramatic shift of momentum with the mobile VR headset.
Two reasons could be behind this change in policy: First, all of the original Daydream’s apps were showing very small install numbers. Second, Samsung recently announced that it had sold 5 million of its Gear VR headsets, making them the closest rivals to Google. Perhaps Google sees this as a sort of rough start and so had to shift to full gear elsewhere. More options for the Google headset means more options for consumers, which is a good thing for them since the Daydream ecosystem can grow more to support additional headsets or phones in the near future, and all of these would be compatible with each other. However, some experts are airing concerns of the tricky balance between the VR and Google’s non-curation policy, so long as the developer follows the given guidelines. With no more testing time for any submitted app, the app is fully uploaded to the Google Play Store for consumers to download at will. Should a VR app be a problem, it can make the headset wearer feel ill.
This is the big difference with a phone app that is only an inconvenience should it break down. Also, too many apps can make it difficult to differentiate between quality content and copy cats, which is a realistic and common problem in mobile app distribution. So now there is a curiosity to see the effects of this change of policy on the overall evolution of the Daydream ecosystem. Undoubtedly, there are some very skilled developers out there who now have a chance to show off their apps since they were unable to be included in the previous Google Daydream bandwagon. However, there is fear that there could also be a lot of low-skilled developers waiting to push their incomplete apps into VR just to get a few bucks. One other issue about the Google Daydream headset is that, even with its very affordable price (around $80 SRP), the fact that Samsung’s slightly higher priced Gear VR headset is not made of cardboard is probably the cause of its huge sales. There’s a big difference in spending between $90 to $100 for a VR headset compared to the Oculus Rift and other expensive systems that retail for more than $500.
Source: https://www.mobilemag.com/2017/01/27/google-daydream-vr/