Overview
The Meta VR Start Developer Competition 2026 is an eight-week online competition inviting members of Meta’s Start program to create new or significantly updated experiences for Meta VR devices, including Meta VR Glasses and Meta Quest. It is aimed at both developers new to the Start program and experienced VR creators. Projects should make use of natural hand interaction and deliver intuitive experiences, with controller-free use as a core requirement.
The competition runs from September 24 to November 18, 2026. Participants can compete for a total of $1 million in cash prizes, including top awards of $100,000. The event is hosted by Meta and takes place online.
Tracks and project divisions
Choose one of three tracks:
- Entertainment: Media and content experiences such as spatial cinema, interactive video, music visualization, immersive storytelling, spatial audio, or companion apps.
- Gaming: Seated games designed for hands-first or eyes-and-hands interaction, including puzzle, strategy, casual, social, and narrative experiences.
- Productivity: Tools for work and everyday routines, such as multi-panel workspaces, task management, creative applications, or context-specific habit experiences.
Projects may be entered as a New Experience, created during the competition window without reusing a pre-existing codebase or shipped title, or as an Adapted / Significantly Updated Experience, which builds on an existing project with a meaningful new feature, mode, or platform integration made during the competition. Minor fixes and cosmetic changes do not qualify as significant updates.
Requirements and submission
Every experience must be usable from beginning to end with hands, without requiring a paired controller, and must comply with applicable Meta policies. The guidelines favor seated, stationary use, quick entry and exit, and experiences that offer something satisfying in ten minutes or less. Projects should be original rather than thin wrappers around existing services.
Entrants submit a playable build, a public demonstration video under three minutes, and a completed submission form. Builds made with engines such as Unity or Unreal are submitted as an APK through a competition release channel in the Meta VR Developer Dashboard, with access for judges. Immersive Web SDK projects may be shared through a hosted link. Submissions must remain accessible for judging, and entries cannot be changed after the submission period ends. The form asks for the project name, tagline, track, division, description, team details where applicable, and other project information. Adapted projects should explain their competition-period updates.
Support and preparation
The page recommends applying to the Meta VR Start program if needed, reviewing previous winning projects and sample use cases, and following a quickstart tutorial. Learning resources are listed for Unity, Unreal, Android, the Immersive Web SDK, and hand-and-eye interaction. Technical documentation is available in the competition Resources tab. The Meta Developer Forum is identified as a place for ongoing support and information about upcoming competition events and workshops. Mentor programming and collaboration with the global VR developer community are also highlighted.
Eligibility and awards
Participants must be above the legal age of majority in their country of residence and must be members of the Meta VR Start Program by submission. The page lists certain excluded countries and territories; entrants should consult the full rules for details. Prizes include awards across the three tracks and divisions, as well as special awards for areas such as social and multiplayer experiences, accessibility, original concepts, and other standout qualities. The competition page links to full rules and judging criteria for additional details.
