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Blaston has been pulled from Facebook's Oculus VR ad test

Facebook's latest revenue stream test involved running ads in Oculus VR games. Results were as expected.

Sam Chandler

June 22, 2021 6:05 PM

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Resolution Games was part of a small group of developers that opted into Facebook’s Oculus VR advertising test with its game, Blaston. However, following review bombing of its game, the company has decided to no longer implement the test.

Reported on by Ian Hamilton of UploadVR on June 21, 2021, the Resolution Games CEO Tommy Palm released a statement concerning Facebook’s Oculus VR ad test and the involvement of his company’s game, Blaston.

After listening to player feedback, we realize that Blaston isn’t the best fit for this type of advertising test. Therefore, we no longer plan to implement the test. We look forward to seeing you in the arena and hope you try the Crackdown Update that went live today!

— Blaston (@BlastonGame) June 21, 2021

In the statement, Palm recognizes user feedback for testing ads in a paid-for game. “We no longer plan to implement the test in Blaston,” Palm says, though he does go on to state it’s not the end of ad testing. “As an alternative, we are looking to see if it is feasible to move this small, temporary test to our free game, Bait! sometime in the future.”

Palm looks to be of the opinion that ads in VR are an inevitability in a similar manner to how they are in mobile gaming. There’s also recognition that, on this new frontier of technology, steps will be taken to test new things and missteps will be made. To that end, Palm invites feedback to improve the industry, “We welcome any and all your feedback along the way so we can have a constructive conversation around this and create the best path forward.”

There’s been a bit of backlash from the gaming community over Facebook’s handling of the Oculus brand – such as the requirement of a Facebook account to use the new Quest 2 – and ads in VR seems to be the next log on the fire. Be sure to keep it locked to Shacknews as we bring you the latest on ads in virtual reality and everything happening on the VR frontier.

Sam Chandler

Head of Guides

Hailing from the land down under, Sam Chandler brings a bit of the southern hemisphere flair to his work. After bouncing round a few universities, securing a bachelor degree, and entering the video game industry, he's found his new family here at Shacknews as Head of Guides. There's nothing he loves more than crafting a guide that will help someone. If you need help with a guide, or notice something not quite right, you can message him on X: @SamuelChandler