Oculus revealed that it’s going to make a change and let account holders have a single way to log in to their devices. It’s now going to be done through a Facebook account. All of this is going to start this coming October.
In a blog post, Oculus said that by having a single way to log into their devices, it’s going to be easy to find, connect, and play with friends in virtual reality. By using a Facebook account and password to log-in, Oculus added that this should “introduce more Facebook powered multiplayer and social experiences coming soon in VR, like Horizon, where you can explore, play, and create worlds.”
This is not really surprising considering that Oculus is owned by Facebook and considered as one of Facebook’s apps and technologies. By using a VR profile that’s backed by a Facebook account, Oculus said that this “helps us protect our community and makes it possible to offer additional integrity tools.” In addition, rather than having a separate Oculus Code of Conduct, Oculus said that it’s going to “adopt Facebook’s Community Standards as well as a new additional VR-focused policy.”
What’s going to happen is that beginning in October, everyone that’s using an Oculus device for the first time is going to need to log in with a Facebook account. For those who are existing users and already have an Oculus account, they’re going to have the choice to log-in with Facebook and merge their Oculus and Facebook accounts. Existing users that decide not to merge their accounts can still use their Oculus account, but only for two more years.
This is because by January 2023, support for Oculus accounts is going to end. Those who still have not merged their accounts by this time can still use their device, but aren’t going to be able to experience full functionality, which will require a Facebook account. While Oculus is looking for ways for users to keep the content they have purchased, there are going to be some games and apps that no longer work. This could be because they may need a Facebook account or the developer has decided to no longer support the app or game purchased.
How has the reception been to this announcement? So far, the few comments on the original blog post show that some users are not really on board with this decision. What about you? Are you okay with this one? Let us know in the comments section below.
