Meta Horizon Dashboard: A Comprehensive Guide for Developers
By Waylon Fisher, Co-founder & COO, Clique Games
Most devs poke around the Meta Horizon Dashboard just enough to push a build and hope it doesn’t explode. That’s a mistake.
At Clique Games, the Dashboard is our control center—it's where we build, test, distribute, market, and analyze every title we launch. This guide walks you through the entire platform, not just how to technically use it, but how we actually use it—warts, wins, and workflow included.
This isn’t a walkthrough written by someone at Meta. It’s written by someone who has to fight through this interface to keep games live and profitable.
Understanding the Meta Horizon Dashboard
If you’ve used Steamworks, you’ll get the idea—but the Meta Horizon Dashboard is broader and a bit less intuitive. It governs every step of your game’s lifecycle on Quest.
If you’re trying to scale a game, manage a community, or grow revenue, this is your mission control. And most developers are barely scratching the surface.
Engagement Tools
Staggered notifications keep updates visible without overwhelming users—timing matters.
User Notifications
Meta lets you push notifications to:
Product detail pages
Add-ons
In-app destinations
Review prompts
App launch
Posts/events
Best Practices:
Write like a marketer
Lead with the “what,” then the “why”
Use sparingly—no more than 2x/month unless live service
Tip from Waylon:
“We use notifications to drive players to cosmetic drops and event weekends. But they take time to approve, so always schedule them out.”
Store Posts
Posts show up on the:
Store page
User feeds
Emails
“What’s New” discovery sections
Example of a Store Post used to promote Monkey Doo’s latest update—part of the marketing mix for every new release at Clique.
We use them for:
Devlogs
Patch notes
Soft promos
Community engagement
Tip from Waylon:
“Treat Posts like a studio dev blog for casual players. You’re not writing for Reddit. You’re writing for the curious fan who hasn’t played in three weeks and wants to know what’s new.”
Monkey Doo’s store Posts as seen on the game’s Quest store page—keeping updates visible to new and returning players alike.
User Reviews
Our support team replies to every review—positive and negative.
Tip from Waylon:
“Own your review section. Say thanks for good ones. For bad ones, be honest, be human, and show you’re working on it.”
User Reporting
Primarily used for player behavior reporting. We rely more on VoicePatrol’s voice-chat protection for our multiplayer titles.
Matchmaking, Events, Achievements
We haven’t tapped into Events or Destinations deeply yet. But we aim for 20+ achievements and are building out leaderboards and limited-time weekend events.
Growth Strategies
Try Before You Buy (TBYB)
Meta lets you control:
Trial Duration: 15–30 minutes
Feature Access: Limit by level or game mode
Audience Segmentation: Show it to specific users only
Analytics: Measure trial-to-purchase conversion
We tested this in Rogue Ascent. Engagement spiked, but conversions didn’t. The reason? Too much onboarding, not enough action.
The Try Before You Buy dashboard view—where you configure limited-access trials to drive full purchases.
Best Practices:
Drop users into gameplay ASAP
Design the trial as a teaser
End with a cliffhanger
Watch analytics like a hawk
Tip from Waylon:
“TBYB isn’t about letting them ‘try the game.’ It’s about letting them ‘want the game.’ There’s a huge difference.”
Manage Promotions & Promo Analytics
Promotion management dashboard—where you enroll in Meta-hosted sales and track approval status across titles.
We prioritize store-wide sales and plan months out. Meta’s system has a 30-day cooldown for price changes.
UTM tracking is available but not always reliable. We supplement with manual spreadsheets when needed.
Bundles
Live example of a franchise bundle—Frenzy Franchise Bundle—grouping related titles under a single discounted listing to drive cross-title discovery.
Bundles work best when:
Titles are in the same franchise
You collaborate with studios that share your audience
You use the extra SKU for store visibility
Bundles like the Frenzy Franchise get their own mini store pages—driving visibility and letting players pick up multiple titles at once.
Tip from Waylon:
“Only bundle with games that are as strong or stronger than yours. A weak bundle partner pulls your brand down.”
A/B Testing
What you can test:
Store icons
Trailers/screenshots
Price
Description
Tags
Frenzy VR Price A/B Test:
+9.8% fewer sales at a higher price
But +12.4% revenue
Results from a price A/B test on Frenzy VR—fewer sales at $14.99, but significantly higher revenue overall.
Monkey Doo Artwork A/B Test:
New Cover art = +8.7% conversion
Side-by-side comparison of test and original cover art used in the experiment—small changes here can lead to big gains in performance.
Cover art A/B test results for Monkey Doo—an 8.7% boost in conversion rate with the new design, backed by statistically significant data.
Tip from Waylon:
“Start with the icon. It’s your billboard. It’s the first thing people see and the easiest to get wrong.”
Analytics Overview & Benchmarks
Meta gives you:
Revenue graphs
Retention curves
Crash data
Genre benchmarks
Funnel metrics (PDP → Purchase)
We track:
Weekly sales
App ratings
Retention post-update
PDP conversion vs benchmarks
Tip from Waylon:
“Data’s only valuable if it drives decisions. Don’t look at retention charts unless you’re willing to change content based on what you see.”
Alerting
We don’t use it much yet, but alerts can catch:
Crash spikes
Rating drops
Churn after content drops
Benchmarks
Meta compares your data to others in the genre.
Tip from Waylon:
“If your PDP is below average, you’ve got a marketing problem. Not a product problem.”
Development Tools
Test Users
Test users let you simulate purchases and test features without risking your actual account or finances. You’ll create dedicated test accounts through the Dashboard, assign them to release channels, and use them for QA or influencer testing without needing credit cards.
Tip from Waylon:
“We use test users for QA and external teams. Save the usernames and passwords—they last forever. Don’t forget to assign them to the right release channels.”
Multiplayer Testing Tool
This tool lets you simulate multiplayer sessions, region testing, and other online systems before you go live. You can pair test users together, test match queue times, and check for latency issues across global servers.
Tip from Waylon:
“It’s useful, but coordinating across time zones and testers is key. Always log your multiplayer sessions—you’ll need to replay issues.”
Webhooks
Webhooks let the Dashboard talk to your external tools. We’ve used them to:
Ping Discord when a user hits a purchase milestone
Trigger automated test alerts
Sync gameplay events with analytics dashboards
Tip from Waylon:
“If you’re doing anything live-service, you want Webhooks. Think of them as your real-time nervous system.”
Distribution Management
Builds & Release Channels
This is where you push builds. We use multiple channels:
Internal QA
Marketing builds
Playtesting access
Production/Live
Each channel can be gated to certain users or groups.
Tip from Waylon:
“We name channels by purpose and date. Label everything clearly or risk chaos. Don’t let your marketing team pull the wrong build for a press event.”
Store Availability & Scheduling
You can schedule your app launch down to the minute, define visibility (public, invite-only), and choose specific regions.
We avoid launching near major VR titles or holidays, and we plan sales at least 60 days out due to Meta's 30-day cooldown policy.
Tip from Waylon:
“We standardize launches for 1 PM EST Thursdays. Why? Because if something breaks, you’ve still got a workday to fix it before the weekend.”
Playtesting Feedback
You can enable feedback tools for players to submit bug reports and even video clips. We haven’t used this fully yet, but it’s promising for tighter QA loops.
Key Management
The Dashboard allows you to generate, assign, and track game keys.
We use a Google Sheet to log who gets what. We're also integrating Keymailer to streamline influencer drops and campaign tracking.
Key distribution dashboard for Dragon Fist—track and manage app keys across campaigns like influencer outreach and events.
Tip from Waylon:
“Use release channels when you need full app access. But for influencers, keys are faster. Just keep tight control—you don’t get unlimited.”
App Submissions & Metadata Optimization
This is not just a step in the process. It’s your sales pitch to Meta, to players, and to the algorithm.
Meta lets you submit:
Markdown-formatted descriptions
Inline GIFs and images
Categorized tags and keywords
Language-localized listings
Separate assets for TBYB, store preview, etc.
Our Internal Rules:
Use markdown intentionally. Bullets, bolding, and spacing make it readable.
Lead with a hook: “An intergalactic food fight in zero gravity.” Not “Welcome to Monkey Doo.”
Use search-friendly terms. Include words like “dodgeball” if people search for it.
Use GIFs wisely. Motion catches the eye in the mobile store preview.
Tip from Waylon:
“Treat the submission form like your Steam page. It’s not a requirement—it’s an opportunity.”
App Submissions
There’s no magic checklist, but we’ve learned a few things the hard way:
Use markdown with GIFs to make your store page stand out
Set your category to "Games" if that’s what it is
Pick keywords people actually search
App submissions view for Dragon Fist—track builds, metadata, pricing, and release timing all in one place.
Tip from Waylon:
“Meta’s submission form is your one shot to look like a professional studio. Treat it like a marketing page, not a form.”
Monetization
Add-ons
We localize pricing and release cosmetic bundles alongside major content updates.
Multiple add-ons appear directly on the game’s store page, creating additional purchase opportunities and visibility for expansions.
Each add-on, like “The Chess Court,” gets its own dedicated store page—ideal for showcasing DLC content and driving standalone purchases.
Tip from Waylon:
“Bundle cosmetic packs with gameplay beats. New content = new reasons to spend.”
Subscriptions
We don’t use these yet, but the team behind Cactus Jam is currently testing:
Monthly currency drops
Gated content
VIP access/features
Maybe we can share some of their results soon…
Store Funnel & Conversion Analysis
Your sales funnel:
Store Impressions
PDP Visits
Installs or Purchases
We watch:
CTR
PDP-to-install ratio
Trailer/screenshot drop-off
Tip from Waylon:
“If your PDP conversion rate is trash, don’t fix the game. Fix the damn PDP first.”
Requirements
No formal checklist here—but take this seriously. Meta can delist your app for non-compliance.
Data Use Checkup panel for Clonk—review and manage all user data access permissions to stay compliant with Meta’s platform policies.
Tip from Waylon:
“Don’t skip this. Read every tab. Check every box. Or risk watching your launch explode.”
Closing Thoughts
The Horizon Dashboard isn’t a one-and-done setup page. It’s your pipeline. Your revenue engine. Your user insight panel. Your retention lifeline.
The more time you spend mastering it, the fewer surprises you’ll get. And the more room you’ll have to scale.
My Final Thought: It’s not sexy, and it’s not intuitive. But it’s powerful. Use it right, and it becomes your biggest asset.
