Back in August, it was revealed that Facebook had decided to start merging Oculus and Facebook accounts so it was required for any new Oculus hardware to be linked to a Facebook account. That news just got a little worse with the potential for users to lose everything if they delete their Facebook account.
Linked to that, the Oculus Quest 2 has recently exceeded expectations with Chris Pruett, Facebook’s Director of Content Ecosystem at Oculus explaining it’s been a huge success and that the team “really couldn’t be happier” noting that the headset has sold “faster than [the original] Quest did” which is very understandable given the highly favourable reviews the VR headset has garnered. Yet again, it’s potentially the big hope for VR to become mainstream with the majority of purchases supposedly from people trying VR for the first time.
There’s a massive catch though if you’re not too keen on all things Facebook. First of all, it was found that if your Facebook account is banned (or left pending verification), you lose access to your Oculus Quest 2 and it effectively becomes a stylish paperweight. It gets worse though as it seems if you simply want to deactivate your account for a brief time, you can’t access any Oculus Products or your Oculus information.
Bit annoyed? Yup, somehow, there’s still a worst case scenario here. Delete your Facebook account and you lose everything. Your Oculus information is deleted, you lose achievements and you even lose app purchases and any existing store credit. You lose everything basically, all because you may wish to delete your Facebook account. UploadVR has included a handy screenshot so you know exactly what to expect.
It’s a fairly extreme step, especially for those that really don’t want much of a social media presence. Facebook is a controversial enough entity as it is for many people, and being forced to maintain an account solely to use the Oculus Quest 2 won’t sit right with a lot of people. Losing your purchases is a particularly unpleasant move, even if we do all appreciate that digital purchases never feel as safe as a physical one.
While the Oculus Quest 2 is certainly a great VR headset and is selling much faster than the original, issues such as this may prove off-putting in the long run, demonstrating yet again that the path to VR becoming mainstream really doesn’t run smooth.