A week ago, we learned that beginning this October, new Oculus VR headset owners would need a Facebook account if they wanted to use their devices. "Everyone using an Oculus device for the first time will need to log in with a Facebook account," the company said in an August 18 blog post, while existing Oculus headset owners have until 2023 to merge their Oculus accounts with a Facebook account.

The de-Oculus-ing of Oculus continued today with another announcement, in which Facebook introduced Facebook Reality Labs, the new name for the Oculus AR and VR development teams. Facebook Reality Labs was the name given to the Oculus Research division back in 2018, but now it appears the entirety of Oculus is being rebranded with the same name.

"Much like Facebook’s recent corporate rebranding, our emphasis is on clarity—visually identifying us as a part of Facebook while looking toward the future of the next computing platform that puts people at the center," wrote Andrew Bosworth, Facebook executive and head of Facebook Reality Labs.

This abrupt re-branding even carries over to Oculus Connect, the annual AR/VR developers conference happening digitally in September. It is now called Facebook Connect.

There was no mention of the actual headsets and gear being re-branded in the future, however. The hardware itself is still called Oculus, at least for now.



Posted: Aug 28, 2020 9:43 am
Related Forum: PC Gaming Forum

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/uk/oculus-ar-and-vr-divisions-have-been-renamed-facebook-reality-labs/