According to SplitMetrics, VR game downloads on Android are on pace to hit record levels.
In the first half of 2024, the top 28 VR games on Android devices received an estimated 5.5 million new downloads, up 40% from last year. At this pace, that number will grow to 11 million by the end of the year. This marks a major milestone for the VR market, as this total will exceed the downloads in both 2022 (10 million) and 2023 (8 million).
“Much of the hype around the VR sector has died down and one might think the sector is stagnating, but that’s far from the case. The VR gaming sector has quietly been growing at a very impressive rate and we are on track to have a record-breaking year in terms of user growth,” said Thomas Kriebelnegg, general manager at the company. Split Metrics.
“It’s important to remember that the adoption of VR and XR technology is still in its early stages. As the industry develops and more companies invest in it, more game developers will experiment with VR. That’s why now is a critical time for developers to refine the user experience of their games and for marketers to identify and attract early adopters.”
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Top 10 VR Games for Android
Splitmetrics used data from its App Radar platform to identify the top VR games based on Android downloads, and the company estimates that this list represents approximately 90% of the market on the Android platform.
| Estimating VR game downloads on Google Play | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Release year | lifetime | First half of 2024* | Q1 2024 |
| Recreation Room – Hang out with friends! | 2021 | 32M | 2.7 million | 1.5 meters |
| VR thrilling roller coaster game | 2023 | 23M | 470K | 306k |
| Fulldive VR – Virtual Reality | 2015 | 11M | 295K | 179k |
| Backroom | 2021 | 2.2 million | 117K | 52k |
| Sky on Fire: 1940 | 2020 | 1.8 million | 313K | 176 |
| Zombie Shooter VR | 2014 | 1.7 million | 22K | 15K |
| VR space game | 2016 | 1.1 million | 6K | 3K |
| VR Jurassic Dino Park Coaster | 2016 | 1.1 million | 102K | 55K |
| VR Roller Coaster 360 | 2019 | 800,000 | 335K | 160K |
| Akron: Squirrel Attack | 2019 | 633K | 53K | 31K |
Of the 28 VR games analyzed, the top five downloaded in the first half of 2024 were Rec Room – Play with friends! (2.7 million), VR Thrills Roller Coaster Game (470,000), VR Roller Coaster 360 (335,000), Sky On Fire: 1940 (313,000), and Fulldive VR – Virtual Reality (295,000).
VR Game Portal
There were over 80 million downloads of VR games, but that doesn’t include the top VR game portals. Google’s Cardboard and Meta Quest also saw strong growth, according to Splitmetrics. Combined, these apps had a total of 54 million downloads on Google Play.
| Google Play Download Estimates – VR Games Portal | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Apps | Release year | lifetime | First half of 2024* | Q1 2024 |
| cardboard | 2014 | 37M | 2715K | 433K |
| Meta Quest | 2018 | 17M | 1.1 million | 717K |
While the Meta Quest app still has a long way to go to catch up with Cardboard, Meta Quest 3 has sparked a surge in downloads: The app saw downloads on Android increase by 277% in December 2023 and 147% in January 2024, likely due to the holiday season.
