It’s a move that has been long-expected by critics of the buyout from Facebook of Oculus back in March of 2014 for the sum of $2.3 billion in stock and cash options.
Many critics were upset as it was clear where Oculus would ultimately go, towards adverts and Facebook, which founder Palmer Luckey vehemently denied; the objective of the Oculus was always gaming, and there would be no straying from that path.
Yesterday, Oculus has begun its descent to being a Facebook and advertising machine, much to the chagrin of Palmer Luckey who stated on Reddit that he simply didn’t have much of a say in the process: the old adage of ‘he with the gold makes the rules’ struck true as Oculus came out with a surprising announcement that, once again, attempts to marry the gamer demographic with the Facebook demographic.
[embed]https://twitter.com/oculus/status/1295769342034849792?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/embed]Pardon the briefest of giggles as many critics were proven correct about the future of Oculus.
The twitter account states that if people opt to not make a Facebook account, the Oculus will not retain full functionality; meaning those with the Oculus VR device either choose to part with their identity and privacy, or they cripple the device that they purchased for gaming.
A bizarre quagmire that many purchasers now find themselves attempting to sort the value of their privacy versus immersive gaming; the precise conundrum that many promised would never be presented.
To further the bafflingly lopsided notice, Facebook bans burner accounts that aren’t matched by your full name; meaning your Oculus can be banned as well if you don’t capitulate. Facebook has been requested official uploads of ID’s and birth certificates to ensure that users that are signing up to the social media client are authentic users; it’d be a shame for all of that tracking to go to waste.
Palmer Luckey stated on Reddit that Facebook approved his comments about keeping the technology separate from the social media juggernaut back in 2014 and that their reneging of the promise is frankly outside of his control.
This makes the announcement of Facebook purchasing Beat Saber, one of the few titles that are considered to be a ‘must play’ with VR, as far more concerning for its future.
In light of this event, many users are bringing out their pitchforks and former Oculus users are exploring other VR options, from the Vive to the Valve Index (which is still wildly out of stock, with 8+ weeks reported from Valve and 20+ weeks experienced from users). It will be interesting to see a multitude of boomers using VR for immersive ads, and that’s the future that we apparently are looking towards.