The Avalanche app can be wishlisted, but not actually redeemed or purchased, and thus can’t be downloaded or used. The store lists the app’s release date as 24 July 2024, three months ago, which may be the time it was uploaded to the store system. The store page description reads “Download to test out the latest cloud streamed titles on Avalanche”, and its images include screenshots of Lone Echo, a blockbuster Oculus Rift game from 2017 that hasn’t been ported to Quest, as well as Beat Saber and the Unreal Engine’s City Sample.

Between 2016 and 2021 Facebook invested hundreds of millions of dollars to ship a number of PC Oculus Rift blockbusters like Lone Echo and Asgard’s Wrath. While these games can be played on Quest today via a gaming PC over Wi-Fi or USB, most Quest users don’t own a gaming PC. Avalanche being listed on the store may suggest Meta is getting closer to releasing it as a product, bringing these games to a much wider audience.

Of course, the experience of cloud streaming heavily depends on the quality of the user’s internet connection. There is a potential for high latency if the server is far away, and for judder caused by packet loss if the connection quality is poor. In late 2020 John Carmack had this to say, comparing it to local network streaming: “obviously it’s even worse, obviously more people are going to find that unacceptable and it will be a terrible experience for more people, but still I am quite confident that for some people in some situations it’s still going to be quite valuable”.