back to article You'd think 1.8bn users a day would be enough for Zuck. But no. Oculus fans must sign up for Facebook

Facebook will force users of its Oculus VR headset to sign up for and log into the antisocial network. Owners of the virtual-reality goggles have been able to install games and other software in their gear via the Oculus online service, using accounts directly registered with Oculus. That's coming to an end: you'll need to log …

  1. This post has been deleted by its author

    1. Tony J Smith

      Re: That's in 3 years...

      Actually, the PS4 based PSVR is compatible wit the PS5; even Sony themselves have said so. They're developing a newer version, but you can still use your current version with it. It's the Dualshock 4 controller that won't be fully compatible with the PS5; you can't use it with PS5 games, only if playing a PS4 game on the system.

      Still, I very much agree with the rest of the post. Lots of new next gen headsets will be coming over the next couple of years. Any non-Oculus ones now look more attractive.

    2. Daz555

      Re: That's in 3 years...

      All PS4 hardware is supported on PS5. What is clear though is that next gen VR from Sony will have a more modern method for motion tracking as the new controllers do not have the LED lights.

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Christmas shopping just got easier

    One less item on the list.

  3. tcmonkey
    Facepalm

    Feeling very good about having bought a competitor's product right now.

    1. fung0

      Apple and Microsoft

      If there is a silver lining, it comes in the form of Apple and Microsoft. Both of them are working on next-gen AR and VR headsets, and Facebook has just given them a market differentiator: we will respect your privacy, unlike others.

      I call total BS on this rosy statement. It would be more accurate to say that Facebook has given those competitors the green light to step up their own rapacious data-harvesting efforts in the VR/AR world, with no competitive disadvantage. (As if they needed the encouragement...)

  4. Dwarf

    Uh ?

    Can someone please explain exactly how a VR headset requires a remote login and how this can actually help a device function ?

    Presumably it just needs to connect to my computer and act as a directly connected device providing video and audio to the wearer.

    I just wish all these companies would actually realise its what *customers* want, not what they want.which is important.

    The more that play these games (as in marketing bullshit games, not the actual computer games), then the less we are going to trust you all.

    Personally, never tried VR and no plans to do so, since I'm currently very happy with R.

    1. b0llchit Silver badge
      Unhappy

      Re: Uh ?

      I just wish all these companies would actually realise its what *customers* want, not what they want.which is important.

      Companies like facebook only care about the "customer's interests" when they can make a profit from said customer. The customer is the target for milking and the customer's interests are only important such that the customer does not leave until milked dry. "Customers" are the means for the company to make boatloads of money without any regard to what is morally correct or acceptable for either customer or society.

      If anyone thinks otherwise about facebook and co, then you must be naive or just ignorant.

      1. don't you hate it when you lose your account

        Re: Uh ?

        Facebook are secretly buying all the toilet paper manufacturers. Their going to change the name to arsepaper and you'll need a Facebook account to buy it. If you done belive me just Google Qanus. IT'S ALL TRUE!!!!!!!!!!!

        1. b0llchit Silver badge
          Paris Hilton

          Re: Uh ?

          I heard a rumour that facebook is preparing a case to forbid all books. The "book" term infringes on facebook's trademark and must therefore be forbidden. People have also been sharing books, which is an infringement on the rights of the authors and publishers, who have signalled approval to facebook's case if they get a share of the revenues.

    2. Kane
      Unhappy

      Re: Uh ?

      "...since I'm currently very happy with R."

      I wish I was.

    3. hnwombat
      Unhappy

      Re: Uh ?

      "I just wish all these companies would actually realise its what *customers* want, not what they want.which is important."

      There's the problem. If you're not paying for something, you're the *product*, not the customer. The customers are the purchasers of your data.

      Icon because it's the best I could do without a late-stage capitalist kleptocracy icon.

  5. FXi

    Well never going to buy one now

    Just like Sonos shot themselves in the foot by stopping to support products only a few years old, this is another move that will relegate the product to an even smaller audience. Last I checked these headsets weren't suffering from supply problems created by excessive sales. But apparently they really want to sell less of the devices as we see here. Corporate darwin award.

    1. Julian 8 Silver badge

      Re: Well never going to buy one now

      Sticking with my old Squeezeboxes :)

  6. jake Silver badge

    One fewer thing to spoil the nieces & nephews with.

    I will not contribute to companies who insist on having their hardware phone home for absolutely no reason.

    Regardless of the spin they try to put on it, they are SPYING on their customers.

    Fuck 'em, and the horse they rode in on.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: One fewer thing to spoil the nieces & nephews with.

      I dunno, mate you post such boring and self involved crap you'd maybe send their data harvesters to sleep!

      Please reconsider. If they're busy wading through your immense chat logs, the rest of us are safe :)

  7. Qumefox

    This article mentions Apple and Microsoft, but skips over Valve, HTC, and the other players in the market that actually compete with Oculus in the present day.. I know the upcoming HP Reverb G2 will be one of the best spec'd HMD's when it launches later this year. It has the index's awesome off ear speakers, but with higher resolution displays.

    1. Steve Davies 3 Silver badge
      Alert

      Preparing the ground

      to pull the plug on Occulus perhaps?

      If (and that is a big IF) Apple get their AR devices right then Occulus is a dead duck. With Apple clearly trying to do more on device processing as they are with Siri they might (and that's a big might) literally clean up in that tech area. All the rumpurs are pointing that way.

      Either way, I was not even remotely interested in an Occulus device and with this restriction the chance of me buying one went to around 0.00000001%. The same goes for any Apple device even if it is the bees knees and the greatest thing since... the last greatest thing.

      1. the Jim bloke
        Meh

        Re: Preparing the ground

        Are apple and facebook even competing?

        I guess facebook is available in the iWorld, so residents therein may have to choose between the two, but apple products are pretty much irrelevant to dwellers outside the garden.

        I could be wrong, but dont actually care for either party so meh...

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Preparing the ground

          Not everyone who uses Apple kit is inside their walled garden. If they were then it would have to be an awfully big garden. Many just don't care as long as the device they have does what they want it to.

          The sheer number of people I see wearing ear-pods shows that clearly. Not all of them can be regarded as Fanbois.

          Fartbook has already complained about IOS14 and the improved security included in it is stopping ZuckFart from slurping user data in the same way as before. So, yes, Facebook and Apple are competing. Zuck wants your data to sell to advertisers. Apple wants (most of the time) to keep your data on your phone and away from leeches like Zuckerberg.

          I'm not a facebook user and blocked facebook.com years ago.

  8. Whitter
    Boffin

    What impact on for-business use?

    For example, VR in medical environments. Is there a seperate contract for such, meaning the technology exists for an opt-out but individuals are just being refused that option, or is this the end for Occulus anywhere but in the home?

  9. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    One login to rule them all

    I think these big corporations are just too lazy to manage multiple authentication systems. From experience, the problem is that nobody wants to work on maintaining the old systems, because that's a career dead-end; so they work on getting everybody to use the main one and they hurry to kill the others. It does simplify the logic and makes everything more efficient, but the fact that users want to have a separate login is not deemed worthy of consideration.

  10. Danny 5
    Mushroom

    Really?

    Been talking to my nephews about how cool VR gaming is, they're looking into kit for their gaming machines too. I will make sure Faceculus will be removed from the list of options.

    Seriously, where do they get the nerve to even do that? Do they loathe their user base that much?

    1. lowwall

      Facebook + Zuck + Oculus =

      Fuckulus

  11. werdsmith Silver badge

    It's bewildering to me that there are people stupid enough to be using faecebook for anything, and making lame excuses to justify it.

  12. iron Silver badge

    Tbh I thought this had happened already. As soon as Facebook bought Oculus they were added to my 'DO NOT BUY' list.

    If it's touched by Zuck, it will not be allowed on my network.

  13. The Central Scrutinizer

    Seriously, give facebook money?

    Why the fuck would anyone help line that asshat's pockets?

  14. PunkTiger

    I just managed to grab an Oculus Quest (128gb) back in January, since it was the only VR setup that didn't require dedicating an entire room for it. That said, I'm also one of the 35 people on this planet that doesn't have a Facebook account. Looks like I'll have a couple of years to see if another VR manufacturer (Samsung, Valve, whomever) can create a similar affordable all-in-one unit to the Quest. But if absolute push comes to absolute shove, I guess I could create a Facebook "burner" account under a pseudonym and one-off email address solely for use with the Quest.

    1. KorndogDev

      Not so fast

      Very likely FB will ask for your mobile number when creating a new account. And one-off mobile numbers are rather not available.

      1. Alister

        Re: Not so fast

        And one-off mobile numbers are rather not available.

        For 11 quid you can buy a SIM with credit, bung it in a feature phone to register and and then forget it.

  15. spunkypete

    That's Oculus off the Christmas list!

  16. Ben Tasker
    Stop

    Google's approach

    > when Google announced that all users of its Nest smart home products, which it also bought in 2014 for $3.2bn, would henceforth have to login to their kit via Google accounts, giving the search engine monster access to all their physical whereabouts.

    I can't let this pass without pointing out that Google actually fucked up worse than this.

    They announced that you have to login to their kit via Google account. But the reality is, it needs to be a "free" account.

    NEST won't accept Google Apps for Domains (or whatever the fuck it's called now - where the domain in your mail address is yours not theirs). The only reason I can see is that the terms of free Google accounts let them pillage your data much more than AfD accounts do.

    If you want to share access to the device with someone else, that's now via Google Home rather than the NEST app (because they want to push for Home being one place for everything), which also won't accept an AfD account *unless* you go setting hunting and tick the box that allows them to keep and track your web history.

    Never let it be said that Google can implement something simple without accidentally convoluting the hell out of it.

    Facebook are perhaps the one company I'd trust even less, means Oculus is off the shopping list then.

  17. tel2016

    I have an old Oculus DK2. At some point after FB bought Oculus, I updated the runtime (to 1.3 I think), and it installed a boot time service that ran even when the DK2 wasn't being used. A check using Wireshark showed me it was sending data to FB servers about every 5 seconds, so the FB data mining started long ago.

  18. devTrail

    Changing the contract terms way after it was agreed

    Once again a big corporation will impose to their clients a change of the terms under which they sold some services/products and they will get away with it. BTW this is nothing new to Facebook.

  19. genghis_uk

    Funny the number of commentors who say they do not use VR but want to comment anyway... Nothing like a good Zucker-slap

    The annoying thing is that, with the Quest, VR was just starting to get a little bit mainstream. Still not for everyone but, as someone who was playing with VPL Eyephones at university in the 90's (pass the sick bag!), I was genuinely interested in where VR would go next.

    Facebook have seriously underestimated their user base here. Rift and Quest users are not XBox and Playstation gamers in general and err towards the more tech savvy. A £400 entry price and few, if any 'must have' games means that these are not cool toys for the kids. These people are not interested in or are even actively against Facebook but the data slurping giant is continually pushing social media in VR as a must have. We don't really want a WII-like room full of avatars, socially interacting thank you!

    It seems that they have managed to upset a large majority of their users without replacing them with the usual mindless great unwashed Facebook zombies first - unless my reading of Quest and Rift sales has been seriously wrong for the last year or so. Tying future hardware to a Facebook account means that they have just cut themselves off from future upgrades too - No Del Mar (Quest 2) update for this commentard!! I, like a lot of users already have a very separate email address, user ID and Oculus developer logon to distance myself from Facebook but the requirement to merge that into a account where I am forced out of anonymity so they can throw ads at me? No way! Not happening!

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