Beyond the Hype: XR Production in 2024

Game development combines the thrill of creativity with the discipline of project management — a high-stakes endeavor. The burning question: how does a small studio like mine navigate this balance, especially when venturing into the still-young field of XR production?

Small studios and the chaos badge

Small studios like weltfern here in Germany often wear the "chaos badge" with pride. There's a constant flow of inspiration, fueled by a close-knit team and a shared vision for the XR title we're building. Decisions happen on the fly, pivots are the daily dance, and late nights are carried by the shared dream of pushing the boundaries of XR gaming. That raw energy is exactly what keeps us agile and innovative.

Larger studios sometimes look at this nimbleness with a hint of envy — yet the real challenge stays the same: reconciling boundless creativity with the structure it takes to actually finish visions.

What makes XR production harder

XR development adds another layer of complexity to an already dynamic equation: new tools, unfamiliar workflows, and technology that keeps moving under your feet. At weltfern we've learned that the balance between passion and progress isn't a management platitude — it's the deciding production factor.

Technical foundations

Engine selection — then as now, the first directional decision:

• Unreal Engine: Meta's Oculus fork was long the route for Quest development with its built-in MetaXR plugins. That has since been simplified: Application SpaceWarp has shipped inside the engine core as "Frame Synthesis" since UE 5.7 — the fork is no longer needed for it.
• Godot: the open-source alternative has massively expanded its XR capabilities — by now it's the productive choice for weltfern (more on that in the update below).
• Unity: still strong for industrial applications and wherever existing toolchains and IIoT integration matter. Important: the Oculus XR Plugin is deprecated — the Unity OpenXR plugin path is the current standard.

Performance levers that have proven themselves on Quest hardware:

• Application SpaceWarp (AppSW): renders at half frame rate and synthesizes the intermediate frames — according to Meta, up to 70% additional compute headroom. The cost: adjustments to materials and the render pipeline.
• Fixed foveated rendering and consistent draw-call discipline — unspectacular, but effective.

The workflow that carries

• Two-week sprints with XR-specific milestones — in our practice, weekly rhythms, step by step
• Version control isn't an option but a requirement (I rely on GitLab), including automated build pipelines and code reviews
• Regular testing on real hardware — emulators fake performance and comfort at best

Five rules that have proven themselves

1. Foster open communication — course corrections only work when the team carries them.
2. Stay agile — iterative cycles and rapid prototyping keep projects flexible in the face of shifting requirements and new technology.
3. Prototype before code — make core mechanics and user experience testable with fast means before deep implementation begins.
4. Prioritize team synergy — regular check-ins, open feedback, shared goals. Every voice contributes to the outcome.
5. Lead by example — as founder, I'm involved in every aspect of production. It creates shared responsibility and keeps motivation high.

Field notes for XR development

• Version control first. Producing without Git is producing on borrowed time.
• Find the common denominator across hardware — the reference HMD needs to be stable and cover low-end compatibility. In 2024 that was the Quest 2; today it's the Quest 3S (the Quest 2 was discontinued at the end of 2024; security updates run until December 2027).
• Maintain native and desktop builds in parallel — that way one project explores both performance limits: mobile CPU/GPU at the bottom, high-end graphics at the top.
• Re-check the inputs. Hand tracking is brilliant on Quest, but some games are simply made for controllers — and nearly every HMD ships with controllers, which guarantees consistent input.

Two years later: what held up

This post was written in early 2024, mid-production. Looking back shows what carried through:

• The outcome is real: "Assemble!" — the XR game this was all about — shipped that same year: on Steam in June 2024, on the Meta Horizon Store in November 2024. The lessons from that production are documented in a dedicated post.
• The engine bet paid off: Godot proved itself as a productive XR engine for us, including store submission and Quest compliance.
• The hardware landscape shifted: Vision Pro and Android XR (Galaxy XR) widened the field, Meta's lineup was reshuffled without eye tracking. The core point stands: develop on stable reference hardware with an eye on both performance limits.
• The principle holds: structure and creative chaos aren't a contradiction — they're phases of the same production.

A symphony of structure and creativity

The essence — and somehow the secret — of a good production is maintaining this balance despite chaos and stress. On the one hand, keep an eye on team morale; on the other, progress must not suffer. My own involvement in the production proves very conducive to this, and good task management is the core. And importantly: successes get celebrated.

Update September 2026: This article has been revised — duplicated sections removed, engine and hardware facts updated (including the Quest 2 discontinuation and AppSW/Frame Synthesis in UE 5.7), and a retrospective on the shipped production added, with Assemble!'s release dates corrected.

Sources

• Meta discontinues Quest 2 and Quest Pro — Brian Heater, TechCrunch (2024)
• Security updates on Meta devices — Meta Help Center
• Application SpaceWarp Developer Guide — Meta Horizon OS Developers (2026)
• App Spacewarp — Unreal Engine — Meta Horizon OS Developers (2026)

Planning an XR production or stuck in the balance between creativity and structure? Write to ingmar@konnow.de or reach out via LinkedIn — production chaos can be turned into concrete next steps.