Meta’s talk at GDC 2025 broke down the evolution of virtual reality (VR) and mixed reality (MR) development on their platform. Critically, it reviewed the journey from early, experimental hardware to the modern, widely accessible Quest series and the “new reality” of games and applications created by this broader audience of VR/MR players and users.

n short, the popularity of META Quest 3 and META Quest 3S radically changed the audience, and as a result, the business model has shifted:

• These new “mass market” players really like online multiplayer games, especially free-to-play games,

• They skew mid-core rather than core.

• More of them are new to virtual and mixed reality—the majority of new devices in 2024 belonged to people getting their first Quest headset..

Early adopters and hardcore gamers have gradually been joined—and, in some cases, outnumbered—by teenagers and mainstream adults who use MR headsets for gaming, fitness, and media, transforming the ecosystem in both spending and engagement patterns.

New (Younger) Players Require F2P Design

Key is the fact that new, younger players spend less than the older ones did. Partly because, hey kids have less income than adults, but even META mentions that even older players are spending less, too, tracking with the overall behavior trend inline with these new players.

It seems like VR is hitting its F2P tidal wave like mobile did early on. Albeit, it is Edgegap hypothesising and not META making a statement here.

Premium titles remain important, but it is now critical for games seeking to capitalize on this new VR audience and to integrate F2P, including multiplayer Quest developers.

Meta is actively adapting the platform to serve a broader audience. Revenue and engagement have grown overall—with over $2 billion spent on Meta Quest titles and a 12% revenue boost in 2024—yet the mix of content and consumer behavior is evolving in unexpected ways. They are implementing a host of improvements in personalization, store navigation, and search capabilities while rolling out new developer tools for better community engagement. Initiatives such as the $50 million Creator Fund and Oculus Publishing Ignition program are set to stimulate content creation and support emerging developers.

Is F2P VR Multiplayer viable on Meta Quest?

Should VR developers fire up their Meta Quest Developer accounts, hop into the Meta HUB, and start working?

Traditionally, F2P has been an expensive proposition to develop and maintain for developers, particularly for devices (such as the Meta Quest) with a smaller overall audience.

While development will likely remain high, there’s:

1. Proof that it is economically viable, as seen in the popular success of Gorilla Tag by developer Another Axiom Inc and Ghost of Tabor.

2. New service providers like Edgegap that slashes costs by 40-60% one of F2P’s biggest operational cost -dedicated servers. Which is one of the many reasons top-10 multiplayer VR games including Ghost of Tabor by Combat Waffle Studios, DigiGods by Squido Studio, Thrill of the Fight 2 by Halfbrick Studios, and more top games like Gravily League by Blue Duck Studios, Anomaly by Greensky Games, Merlin’s Chess by Teleporter Realities, and more.

F2P is all about churn, how can developers minimize it in multiplayer VR?

As highlighted by the 2022’s Online Gaming Connectivity Report, 50% of players see latency as the main source of frustration with online multiplayer, with 34% quitting completely and 42% not playing as much.

In F2P, engagement is the main correlation between conversion – i.e., revenues.

What game developers can, though, is to minimize the other sources of latency – namely, the network itself.

Network latency occurs because data must travel long distances. When a player's actions are sent over the internet, the signals must pass through various routers and servers before reaching other players, which introduces delays. Data packets can also be delayed by network congestion. Each step along the route adds extra time, resulting in a noticeable lag between player inputs and on-screen responses.

Edgegap’s game server hosting and orchestration platform is patented to deploy game server to the world’s largest, and only, regionless edge network. This allows Edgegap to deploy game server closest to players. As distance introduces latency, this deployment method is proven to reduce latency by 58% on average vs public cloud, and 28% increase in fairness.

How?

In short summary, Edgegap containerizes your game server, and then automatically caches it to our regionless network - the world's largest that we specifically built for multiplayer games. The platform then deploys, on-demand, your game server worldwide to 615+ locations across 17+ providers.

This allows Edgegap to deploy, on-demand & just-in-time, to the ideal game server location most often closest to players as to reduce latency by up to 58% and delivers up to 78% “real-time” latency (sub-50 ms) vs. traditional public cloud.

Thus, while it cannot entirely negate the loss of networking speed due to VR’s use of WiFi (like the META Quest 3 Series), Edgegap is the only game server hosting & orchestration that is proven to reduce latency at the network-level to at least mitigate this inherent challenge to real time online multiplayer for VR devices.

Conclusion

Meta's insights reveal that the evolution of VR and MR is reshaping both the audience and the business model for immersive experiences. The shift toward free-to-play and the rise of younger, more diverse players underscore the need for innovative development strategies and technical solutions that minimize latency and enhance engagement.

The future of multiplayer VR on Meta Quest hinges on developers adapting to these new market dynamics. As cutting-edge service providers like Edgegap demonstrate, reducing network latency is not just a technical upgrade but a strategic advantage that can drive user retention and revenue. Embracing these changes and investing in robust infrastructure will be key to unlocking the full potential of VR and MR for a growing global audience.