Seven months ago, Crisis VRigade developer Sumalab claimed its game had been rejected by Facebook’s console-like curation policy and kept from official release on Oculus Quest. Today, sideloading platform SideQuest revealed the game had passed 50,000 downloads for the headset.
The SideQuest software allows you to download and install content for Quest that’s not available on Facebook’s official store. At 50,000 downloads, Crisis VRigade is SideQuest’s most-downloaded app. SideQuest confirmed to us that this statistic is only counting sideloaded apps downloaded via its platform, and not other downloads installed through SideQuest but obtained elsewhere. SideQuest also noted that this month’s release of Pavlov Shack is likely to catch up to Crisis quite quickly.
Crisis VRigade is a VR shooter in which players embody a member of an elite SWAT task force. You gun down criminals across multiple missions and the developer continues to add more levels over the course of its Early Access release on Steam and full release on PSVR. Sumalab is also working on a sequel, Crisis VRigade II. The SideQuest version of the game is currently in beta as a free download.
In June 2019, a month after the release of Quest, Sumalab took to Reddit, claiming Facebook had decided not to publish the game on the Quest store. At the time, the developer said Facebook had not given any reason for the rejection.
Facebook outlined a store curation policy for Quest ahead of its release in May 2019, with tighter controls than it had shown for its Oculus Rift and Go headsets. There’s no room for Early Access titles, for example, and Facebook wants to see proof that a title will perform well on the platform. This approach was met by criticism from developers and VR fans alike, though it is also true that developers that do get approved often enjoy strong sales.
Want to know more about sideloading content onto Oculus Quest via SideQuest? Check out our handy guide here. We’ve also got our own list of the best games to sideload onto your Quest right here.
