In 2013, someone started a petition for Steam to list subtitle options in their store. Steam obliged and makes it easy to filter to show only apps with subtitles.

MetaQuest's store does not give users a way to search for apps with subtitles or no audio. I've tried searching for "captions" and "subtitles" and only two apps show up.

A Verizon Media survey has found that 80% of the people who use captions are not deaf or hard of hearing. Although I was born profoundly deaf and depend on captions, I meet people every day who tell me they use captions and they aren't deaf or hard of hearing. That's the curb cut effect of captions.

In an article, I issued a call to action to Meta and virtual reality app companies to add accessibility and filtering capabilities, especially for subtitles. Since there has been no action, I'm starting this petition as I've seen successful outcomes.

Ubisoft tracked subtitle usage data on Assassin's Creed Origins, just over 60% of their players actively chose to turn subtitles on. In successive games, the subtitles were on by default as 95% of Assassin's Creed Odyssey's players left them on and 97% had them on in Far Cry New Dawn.

Additionally, Naughty Dog shared their data on subtitles OFF by default, they saw the same thing, 63% choosing to actively turn them on.

Forrester says that 1 billion strong market of people with disabilities has $1.2 trillion in annual disposable income. And 84% of companies are working to achieve digital accessibility. 

If Steam can make it easy to find apps with subtitles, then Meta can too. If something doesn't change, then more people will shop on Steam where they know they can quickly filter to find what they want and need.