Facebook is “temporarily” pausing sales of Oculus hardware in Germany, citing ongoing discussions with regulatory authorities.
We know this is an inconvenience and we are actively working with German authorities to educate regulators on our practices and to ensure our products comply with local laws. This is a temporary pause and we hope to resume sales again in the future.
Facebook
The move was first reported by German tech outlet heise.
Facebook claims this is a proactive measure taken on its own accord, not a mandate. It isn’t going into detail about exactly which German regulations its products might run afoul of.
Oculus for Business, Facebook’s enterprise VR platform, is not affected.
Some German retailers still have Oculus Quest or Oculus Rift S in stock, but once that stock sells out Facebook says it won’t be replenishing it.
The recent decision for new Oculus devices to require a Facebook account, sometimes referred to by regulators as “coupling”, may have triggered renewed scrutiny from German authorities. In 2019, Germany’s antitrust regulator ruled Facebook cannot share data between its services like Instagram and WhatsApp.
Facebook says it hopes to resume Oculus hardware sales in Germany “soon”, but declined to share any specifics.
