Facebook has finally decided to flip the switch on their eventual take over of Oculus. They recently announced that to Oculus users, that would affect current and future owners of their hardware. This October, all new Oculus users will be required to create a Facebook account to use any part of their VR headset.
People who are already in the Oculus ecosystem will be asked to merge their account with a Facebook account, but can refuse till January 1st, 2023. After that point, you will be forced to merge your account with a Facebook account as the Oculus accounts will no longer exist.
Old headsets with linked accounts past 2023 will still work, but some games and apps might stop working. Developers can keep using an unlinked developer account without the social functionality. Which might start becoming a norm for the people who inclined to give Facebook their details. Oculus for Business also remains unaffected from this upcoming change to their account system.
All future Oculus devices will also require a Facebook login, even if your account is already separate which most likely will include the expected new Oculus Quest to most likely be revealed this fall.
These new changes come from Facebook’s consolidation of their platforms, as a new privacy policy will come from Facebook, and the code of conduct will also be merged into the same core standards that apply to Facebook already with the site adding a new VR focused section to its standards.
This also seems to be coming in with allowing easier access to new experiences and features Facebook wants to implement. Ever since the purchase of Oculus, Facebook has slowly been integrating the platform in late 2019, it added new social features that required a Facebook account, and began using the data gathered from Oculus in ad targeting.
How do you feel about the slow merger that Facebook is pushing for?