Community Download is a weekly discussion-focused articles series published (usually) every Monday in which we pose a single, core question to you all, our readers, in the spirit of fostering discussion and debate. For today’s Community Download, we want to know if the upcoming requirement to have a Facebook account associated with your Oculus device is a deal breaker or not for you?
The wait for the shoe to drop here is over: A Facebook account will soon be required in order to use new Oculus VR devices. Starting in October 2020, less than two months from right now, an account on the world’s largest social media platform is needed when you log in to a new Oculus device. There will no longer be the option for a separate Oculus ID.
Furthermore, the entire Oculus account system will end in 2023 with “full functionality” requiring a Facebook account, period. “If you currently use an Oculus account, you’ll be given the option to merge it with a Facebook sign-in, or continue using your account as-is with the expected functionality for the remaining two years,” according to our news story from this morning.
Read that story ad watch the video below for more details on the policy change.
This is big news and it goes directly against things Oculus team members have said and promised in the past. That being said, it’s always felt like a bit of an inevitability.
For a good breakdown on the pros and cons of the decision, from the perspective of a relatively neutral VR developer, this is a good thread of tweets.
At the end of the day though, our question to you is this: Will requiring a Facebook account make you stop using Oculus VR devices? Why or why not?
