New Oculus Policy Requires Facebook for VR Devices

Oculus might be shooting themselves in the foot for the sake of data collection. The VR development company has recently announced a controversial new policy, requiring all users to sign in with their Facebook accounts to use their VR devices.

Oculus recently posted an announcement on Twitter, explaining that every new device from October going forward will require users to link their Facebook account to the device to use it:
 

Today, we're announcing some important updates to how people log into Oculus devices, while still keeping their VR profile. Starting in October 2020, everyone using an Oculus device for the first time will need to log in with a Facebook account.

 
They followed this up with an explanation of how this will work for existing accounts, which currently doesn't require linking with your Facebook at least until January 1, 2023. After then, they will lose access to certain features, like the Oculus game storefront.
 

If you're an existing user and already have an Oculus account, you'll have the option to log in with Facebook and merge your Oculus and Facebook accounts.

If you're an existing user and choose not to merge your accounts, you can continue using your Oculus account for two years.

After January 1, 2023, we will end support for Oculus accounts. If you choose not to merge your accounts at that time, you can continue using your device, but full functionality will require a Facebook account.

Diving deeper into their statement, it's been revealed that Facebook will use this connection to gather additional information about its users, including VR App activity, Facebook friend list, events, photos, captions, likes, comments, VR activity, and so on. This information will be used for the purpose of showing you personalized content, including ads, across Facebook products.

Unsurprisingly, many users are unhappy about this change. A concern for their data privacy was a primary complaint when Facebook initially bought out Oculus in the prior years and this is a perfect example of how the company would abuse their position to collect data. This has prompted a number of high profile folks online to speak against Oculus, swearing against their products from here on out.

This will certainly be a hindrance to future advancements in VR. Oculus helped pioneer the gaming platform into a mainstream form of entertainment. But since their acquisition by Facebook, they've implemented a number of policies and practices that have hindered VR developers. We'll be keeping our eye on the HTC and Valve headsets, instead.