Facebook Technologies Stops Sales of Oculus VR Headset in Germany

[AleksandarK]

Facebook Technologies, a subsidiary of Facebook Inc. and owner of Oculus, has today "temporarily" suspended sales of Oculus VR headsets in Germany. The news is coming today after Oculus announced that all of the new Oculus accounts have to move to the Facebook login system before January 1, 2023, when all of the current Oculus accounts will be suspended. The German data protection law is extremely suspicious of Facebook's behavior and how they handle user data in general, so Oculus has potentially decided to stop the sales to avoid any possible antitrust regulations from the German government. The exact reason is unknown, and it is yet to be revealed, however, the suspicions laid out here may be part of the reason.


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[DRDNA]

facebook is the only reason I'm hard passing all Oculus products and getting the new HP Reverb G2 Virtual Reality Headsetb

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

facebook is the only reason I'm hard passing all Oculus products and getting the new HP Reverb G2 Virtual Reality Headsetb

I want nothing to do with facebook to begin with, so avoiding Oculus makes it a no-brainer.

 

[atavax]

I felt paranoid avoiding a Occulus headset before they announced mandatory facebook accounts; and feel completely vindicated after it was announced. Sorry, No facebook account and no occulus products for life.

 

[m6tzg6r]

I have had my Rift S for 1 year, i was enjoying some Lone Echo earlier and i can't wait for Medal of Honor, but when i am forced to connect Facebook i guess i will just make a spoof account with nothing in it, i guess that is a way to not use your personal account on the Oculus. But i think thats a couple years away, who knows if my headset will still be working then or maybe i might decide to sell it before then.

BTW in my 1 year using Rift S i have never done any multiplayer or social things, all single player, so connecting to Facebook to be more social does not interest me.

 

[1freedude]

As soon as I plugged in my Note 4 to my GearVR, it started downloading a bunch of FB shit (and uploading who knows what ). Thats when I knew Oculus wasn't for me.

 

[Makaveli]

lol these guys had to know this move was going to cost them alot of customers. They should have kept it Occulus a separate company and found another way to mine user data.

 

[Turmania]

I had no idra Occulus was owned by that vile company.

 

[TheButcherNL]

Why login to something to use a device in the first place? This sounds a bit like when you want to use your monitor you have to login to something too, would be insane...

 

[xkm1948]

To HTC’s credit, they are not pushing for shit like this

 

[neatfeatguy]

lol these guys had to know this move was going to cost them alot of customers. They should have kept it Occulus a separate company and found another way to mine user data.

Mine data....they don't need to mine anything. Facebook users freely give up their info....that's what all social media is for; there for people to freely give up their information.

I still get pissed at the wife when she posts pictures of me or the kids on her Facebook page. If for some dumbass reason she wants to project her own personal life on Facebook for everyone to see and know, by all means, but leave me and the kids out of it.

 

[TheoneandonlyMrK]

I want nothing to do with facebook to begin with, so avoiding Oculus makes it a no-brainer.

Half the issue is that some bought one as an oculus and now it's all facebooked.

 

[Dux]

I had Oculus Rift S. Also had PSVR and Lenovo Explorer. RTFT S is by far the best. But Facebook is annoying with pushing their antisocial network. At first i was able to add friends in Oculus home. It's a virtual home that launches when you put Rift S on your head. You are able to customize it and add friends. Then you just place a portal gate to your friends home and you teleport there. It was cool. Then suddenly i wasn't able to visit my friend any more. Got a message saying i now must have FB account if i want to visit my friend and add new friends. Sold my Rift S.

 

[zlobby]

Yeah, and when FB comes pre-installed on every Samsung (and not only) phone, without the ability to uninstall it nobody bats an eye!

 

[1freedude]

Yeah, and when FB comes pre-installed on every Samsung (and not only) phone, without the ability to uninstall it nobody bats an eye!

Uh, bullshit. I have had s1, s2, avant, note 4, note edge. All were rooted to remove goog and fb. The only time my phone had fb crapware was when it was attached to gearvr, and auto downloaded. Then I got rid of it again and learned about SideloadVR

 

[Octavean]

I can understand that there are those that would avoid Oculus products due to the evil empire acquisition of the company. It was predicted years ago that this draconian enforcement was coming and it was vehemently denied. Still it was obviously coming.

I have an Oculus Quest and I have had it for some time now. Before that I had an original Oculus Rift. Those with older Oculus accounts are grandfathered in presumably for a number of years (2023 IIRC). The Oculus Quest won't likely be a viable VR HMD option for much long anyway as it will likely be replaced with something soon.

I avoided purchasing Oculus exclusive games for the very reason that I might likely buy a different manufacturers VR HMD in the future and thus stuck to Steam games.

Anyway, just like a video card, a VR HMD only has a small window of usability before it becomes obsolete so IMO not a big deal if you currently have an Oculus VR HMD because you were likely replacing it in due time.

The original Oculus CV1 was available starting some time in 2012 (IIRC) so if you haven't jumped on the Oculus bandwagon by now you likely were never going to and the evil empire is just an excuse (a good excuse mind you).

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

How is it legal to force me to use something I didn't buy the original product for?

 

[Octavean]

How is it legal to force me to use something I didn't buy the original product for?

Good question and some people might have a legit / legal argument against it. However, those who already have an Oculus product and Oculus account are grandfathered in until at least some time in 2023. It's new users (presumably with new retail packaging / documentation) that are better informs of the evil empires forced requirements that have to deal with this.

 

[DemonicRyzen666]

Good question and some people might have a legit / legal argument against it. However, those who already have an Oculus product and Oculus account are grandfathered in until at least some time in 2023. It's new users (presumably with new retail packaging / documentation) that are better informs of the evil empires forced requirements that have to deal with this.

I doubt it even the "portal" just mentions agreeing with Facebook's terms of service policy. It's not even on the nod other than that.

 

[maxfly]

You would think fb would have enough common sense to do a little market research to see how people would react to this change. Not a wise choice unless the majority of people dont have an issue with it?

 

[robot zombie]

What people seem to be missing here is that facebook already owns the data from thier oculus accounts. The changes just make the link more obvious to the end user. Already snuck that in on ya. Oopsie

 

[zlobby]

Uh, bullshit. I have had s1, s2, avant, note 4, note edge. All were rooted to remove goog and fb. The only time my phone had fb crapware was when it was attached to gearvr, and auto downloaded. Then I got rid of it again and learned about SideloadVR

Well, aren't we forgeting a teensy weensy detail? The rooting!?!?

What people seem to be missing here is that facebook already owns the data from thier oculus accounts. The changes just make the link more obvious to the end user. Already snuck that in on ya. Oopsie

Totally made me feel better!

If for some dumbass reason she wants to project her own personal life on Facebook for everyone to see and know, by all means, but leave me and the kids out of it.

No way! It's so easy to do it en masse, and it brings them so much power that they won't give up on it no matter what. It's the only single thing they care about now!

 

[robot zombie]

I dont think theres any good way to spin it, just playing captain obvious here. Google has been playing the same game for years and I think rightly gets criticized for it pretty much constantly, to the point where people root thier phones to get away. But somehow, facebook got a pass on the whole oculus thing right up until they made it obvious they had your data. I remember the apologist arguments... neglecting that the moment facebook took ownership, they had all of the data linked to accounts. Hell, if you had a facebook and oculus already, they had both linked via simple ip matching. They have access to both, so it's trivial to connect the dots internally. The only difference is now you HAVE to have the facebook account, even if you never use it. They're not getting anything they didn't already have. That ship has sailed. What's changed is that it is now more out in the open. They're consolidating to make it easier on themselves, and probably figure they can take the optical hit, since sales didn't seem to suffer at all when they first got involved.

 

[Vayra86]

facebook is the only reason I'm hard passing all Oculus products and getting the new HP Reverb G2 Virtual Reality Headsetb

Well played and I advise everyone to do the same. A data war is being waged between US companies and the EU. Any data not owned domestically is getting phased out over here.

And its about damn time.

 

[robot zombie]

Well played and I advise everyone to do the same. A data war is being waged between US companies and the EU. Any data not owned domestically is getting phased out over here.

And its about damn time.

Kinda with you there. These global data monopolies are baaaad news. We need to start working towards decentralizing it into pockets that can then be managed and held accountable by locale. Wild-west data ownership is about as terrible of a proposition as a completely unregulated economy. Sketchy sketchy stuff in an increasingly more IoT world. Imagine a world where ginormous corporations could just do whatever they wanted, regardless of impact on consumers and industries. Wait...