Gorilla Tag is undoubtedly a hit. Its primate-centric locomotion style and infectious game of tag has vaulted it into the top spot as the most-rated game on the Quest Store, surpassing even the Meta-owned rhythm game Beat Saber. Now, the indie team behind Quest’s most popular game revealed they’ve generated over $26 million with Gorilla Tag.

Speaking to VentureBeat, developer Another Axiom has reported that its gorilla-themed game has not only brought it home big with $26 million from in-app purchases, but it’s also attracted a larger glut of players than previously reported.

Having initially launched on App Lab in March 2021 and later released on the official Quest Store this past December, devs behind the free-to-play game say it’s managed to reach a peak monthly active user count of 2.3 million now. On Christmas, which is when Meta typically sees a big influx of users, over 760,000 users played Gorilla Tag.

It is free-to-play on Quest—its biggest platform—although a paid Steam Early Access version is available as well for PC VR headsets, costing $20, which comes along with an equal value of its in-game currency, shiny rocks.

Therein lies Gorilla Tag’s monetization strategy, as in-app purchases include a range of cosmetic items such as hats, glasses, and seasonal items like Santa beards and candy canes.

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Developer Kerestell Smith told Road to VR last month that its main driver to get players in the door (and spending cash) was via some well-timed virality on TikTok, with the hashtag #gorillatag seeing 4.4 billion views to date.

Today, the game sits at over 52,000 reviews, ranking above Beat Saber’s 46,000 reviews, making it the most-rated game on the platform. At the time of this writing, Gorilla Tag is the fourth best-rated free game on Quest, sitting behind GYM CLASS – BASKETBALL VR, Innerworld, and First Steps for Quest 2.

Check out the full rankings from this month, which we break down into best and most rated games for both paid and free titles on Quest.

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Scott Hayden
Well before the first modern XR products hit the market, Scott recognized the potential of the technology and set out to understand and document its growth. He has been professionally reporting on the space for nearly a decade as Editor at Road to VR, authoring more than 3,500 articles on the topic. Scott brings that seasoned insight to his reporting from major industry events across the globe.
  • XRC

    The people have spoken…

    • neodraig

      You mean the kids.

      • Christian Schildwaechter

        In a recent study about teenager consumer behavior (“Taking Stock With Teens”, done every six months for decades), 26% of all US teenagers said they already have a VR device. Given that the Quest 2 sells best as a gift around Christmas, these devices will most likely be almost all Quest 2. And given that there were about 43mn teens aged 10-19 in the US in 2021, 26% would equal to 11.2mn Quest 2. With around 15-17mn Quest 2 sold in total, the vast majority of Quest owners are therefore teens, so here “The kids have spoken” and “The people have spoken” are pretty much synonymous.

      • XRC

        Yes young people

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      In more than one way. While the success of a simple game like Gorilla Tag must annoy many VR enthusiasts looking for longer, more immersive experiences, it at the same time devaluates Meta’s policy of preferring a polished look over actual game play for games they let onto the official store. A core criterium for Quest apps seems to have been that they made the Quest look like it was able to graphically punch above its weight class, most likely to deflect criticism in comparison to PCVR with lots more available GPU power. This led to games like Golf 5 eClub being pretty, but heavily criticized for incorrect physics on launch, while the older and uglier, but highly praised exVRience Golf Club was only allowed on App Lab.

      Game play wise these two were the first two Golf games/simulators offering a full course. Today Golf 5 eClub has about ten times the ratings on the store compared to exVRience Golf Club thanks to being visible on the official store, but Golf+ that started around the same time as a immediately well received, decent looking driving range simulator and only later expanded to include full courses now has ten times the ratings of Golf 5 eClub, about 1/3rd more than even Walkabout Mini Golf.

      Meta’s focus on appearance over substance may help with the initial WOW factor, but may also contribute to a lot of people dropping out again when the experiences don’t match the look. Hopefully the success of “ugly, but engaging” apps like Gorilla Tag will make Meta reconsider their approach, not only regarding which games we see on the Quest store, but also when considering which features users actually want in Horizon Workroom. Though locking Quest 1 out of some social VR options seemingly because the hardware isn’t powerful enough to drive their next generation avatars still looks like looks over substance.

      • Guest

        So true. Pico is doing the same thing as Meta by only hyping polished turds at same time their social media units are doing the opposite! Both companies should do some market research with data they already have!

  • ViRGiN

    I can see why it’s currently #4 game on PCVR.
    At least they didn’t dumb it down on PC.

    • namekuseijin

      lol you can’t go any dumber than that

      • ViRGiN

        xD
        The most sad thing is, that this is so popular on PCVR. A platform where you have to pay to access this game. It’s supposedly to combat the cheaters, who can just log out after ban and make a new account. And yet, they made millions, and it’s among the most popular PCVR games to date, surpassing such “behemoths” like skyrim or pavlov.

        • namekuseijin

          more proof that god doesn’t exist

    • Sven Viking

      #1 on Quest.

  • Tommy

    I think children have overtaken the age groups in VR.

    • Christian Schildwaechter

      I don’t think they have overtaken other groups. With Quest sales peaking every year around Christmas, and the amount of teens on VRChat and RecRoom, teens most likely were the largest user group by far for all of the Quest’s existence. It just doesn’t seem that way here because they talk about it on TikTok or Instagram instead of posting in the discussion sections of VR news sites.

  • Foreign Devil

    Tried. . it. Incredibly ugly looking. . and gameplay was not really fun. . unless you enjoy flailing your arms about to move around a block world with screaming kids. Congrats to the Indy developers becoming millionaires with that though!

    • ViRGiN

      VR is pretty much all about over-simplified single mechanics. Take Beat Saber for example, or Pistol Whip, Superhot. All incredibly simple games that cost pennies to make versus full fledged games. The more you offer, the more there is to hate on and be disappointed with. That’s why the most basic games ends up being the most popular.

      • namekuseijin

        in other words, VR is a gimmick for easily amused people and the intelectually defficient…

        • ViRGiN

          Yeah, that’s the masses that are easily getting into awe state.
          The problem is not with VR tech, but software owners who aren’t keen bending their back 190 degrees for silly pocket money. Why would Activision ever port COD to VR in its current state, when for 0.1% of the cost needed, they will have 10000% higher chance to strike success by making a simple game of simple mechanics?
          If VR companies aren’t willing to risk and invest and pay upfront for VR games, then no sane developer will ever attempt to enter this silly market. That’s why VR is unilateraly made up of indies, indies who have 0% chance of survival if it wasn’t for the VR mode.

          • namekuseijin

            yup, more likely Activision brings Candy Crush VR: a box-busting minigame to counter that BS box-chopping rhythm minigame…

          • ViRGiN

            Notes of Duty: Saber Warfare

        • Jonathan Winters III

          Why are you even here, and a frequent poster, if you hate VR?

          • ViRGiN

            why are you CONSTANTLY getting triggered after each and every negative take on VR? why do you read negative comments like it’s your fetish?

          • David Wilhelm

            Get a hobby already dude

          • namekuseijin

            I love VR, IN SPITE of all the dumbshit minigames. sometimes, great things come to the medium…

        • Rip Jeff Beck

          Yes

      • Blade & Sorcery, pavlov, pop1…. lots of other games in the top 10 that have deeper mechanics.

        • ViRGiN

          which mechanics? floating your arms in b&s? simple reloads with huge snapping volumes giving you sleight of hand no matter the gun? or maybe pop1 with its arcadey control from guns to climbing?

  • Octogod

    Proof that there is no God.

  • antoca

    It’s really great to see how far this little game made it :))
    Can’t wait to see more

  • Dragon Marble

    VR gamers:
    We want deep, AAA games!

    Reality:
    One of the best rated games: Gorilla Tag
    One of the worst rated games: Medal of Honor

    • BananaBreadBoy

      Well I want AAA VR games that actually learn and execute on VR’s best practices often initially forged by indie developers, which MOH…didn’t.

      • namekuseijin

        in an ideal world, AAA studios would partner with some of the best VR modders/indies for best results…

    • namekuseijin

      yeah, reality is that VR is a dream tech best left to modders bringing true game classics to the media than stupid indies catering to lowest common denominator

  • Bassem B.

    Great, I’m happy for them! And I have to say it’s great to see “arm locomotion” as I like to call it, in the spotlight. My favourite VR game, Lucid Trips, was the first to pioneer that concept, and I’ve always thought it was an underrated locomotion system. Echo Arena / Lone Echo also used it.

  • I love this story: Meta spending millions to make successful content, and then arrives one boi with a crazy rough game and has the biggest success ever

    • Sven Viking

      Also according to Venture Beat it wasn’t just $26 million from in-app purchases, it was “$26 million in revenue from in-app purchases on App Lab”, which wouldn’t include anything it’s made since it was added to the full Quest store, nor anything it made on Steam or the Rift store.

  • This is disappointing. So many top-notch VR titles out there, and still junk like this and Beat Saber come out ahead. Why do shallow little games like this prosper, but deep titles languish? I would hate to see Flappy Bird become the normal for VR going forward.

  • Rip Jeff Beck

    Vr is dead

    • ViRGiN

      *PCVR

  • Sven Viking

    Just making the point that, with Gorilla Tag continuing to print money, there’s no certainty that Another Axiom will go with a Gorilla Tag-like art style for their next project.