Oculus says that starting in October, all users will have to log in to a Facebook account to use the company’s VR devices, a revelation that has drawn widespread outrage from users. Oculus is one of the foremost creators of VR headsets, and it made a name for itself with the Oculus Rift, one of the first commercial VR headsets on the market. It was purchased by Facebook in 2014.
As with any large corporate acquisition, the purchase of Oculus caused no shortage of anxiety for consumers. Oculus was quick to promise that the buyout wouldn’t change the player experience in any significant way. Founder Palmer Luckey even went on record guaranteeing that fans would not have to log in to Facebook every time they wanted to use an Oculus headset. While at Oculus, Luckey became the center of a series of controversies, including a multi-million dollar lawsuit and a political scandal. He left Oculus in 2017.
Now, the founder’s words are being cast aside. A Twitter post from Oculus today announced that the company is majorly changing its online system by requiring players to log in to their Oculus devices through Facebook. This will replace the system’s own Oculus accounts, which have until now been totally separate from the social media platform. Starting in October, all new users will have to sign in through Facebook. Existing players can keep using their Oculus accounts for two years before they will be forced to either switch to Facebook or miss out on much of their headset’s functionality.
This announcement was met with universal hatred from the gaming community. Scores of Twitter users have turned out to berate Oculus, including big names in gaming like Gordon McGladdery, whose music and sound production company A Shell in the Pit has provided music for classic games like Rogue Legacy and Untitled Goose Game, as well as upcoming action game Godfall. McGladdery says he intends to sever ties with Oculus. At the time of this writing, Oculus is currently the third highest trending topic on Twitter, purely because of the widespread disgust that this announcement has caused.
Oculus attempted to justify the decision by claiming that a single, universal account system will make it easier for players to find and connect with each other. Fans aren’t buying it. Facebook is notorious for its shady data collection schemes, and the last thing people want is for that invasive business model to show up in the gaming space. Players are already demanding refunds and promising to buy VR products from Oculus’s competitors, like HTC Vive. It’s always a shame to see underhanded business practices interfere so dramatically with peoples’ enjoyment of a product, and in a case like this, boycotting Oculus certainly looks like the right call.
