Towards the end of 2020, Meta, then Facebook, announced that the company would shut down Oculus accounts and users of the company’s VR headsets would instead use Facebook accounts to access their material and the headset’s various functions. This change was not appreciated by users, which in turn led to Meta announcing in the autumn that the Facebook requirement would be abolished and replaced with some other solution. Now they say that the disconnection will take place in August.
With the changes, users who still use Oculus accounts can have them converted to the Meta variant, where both games and friends are transferred to the new account. In a blog post about the change, Meta points out that the new account is not equivalent to an account on Facebook or Instagram and that users should have access to extensive privacy settings.
However, there are social aspects to the Meta account. Users get a Meta Horizon profile where they can choose any username, profile picture and write any information about themselves. It is also possible to link a Facebook or Instagram account with Meta Horizon, but this is completely voluntary.
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Users who previously connected their Oculus account with Facebook to be able to use Meta’s VR products will have to create a new Meta account in order to continue to be able to use their headsets. Users who never made the link can log in with their Oculus accounts until January 1, 2023, but then a Meta account needs to be created.
The Meta account, unlike a Facebook account, will not have a limit on how many accounts a person can have. This makes it possible to have several accounts per person, which can be useful for users who use the headset for both professional and private purposes.
Specifically what date Meta will release the new account is currently unknown, but it will happen sometime in August.
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