Facebook ditching Oculus branding as part of company name change to Meta

Facebook is ditching the Oculus branding for its range of VR devices as part of the embattled company's newly announced name change to Meta. Additionally, it says it plans to remove requirements to have a Facebook account to use its hardware, starting "sometime next year".

The Oculus brand has been synonymous with VR for almost a decade now, and Facebook opted to keep the name when it purchased the Oculus company in 2014 - although it has been steadily phasing the name out for all but its VR hardware in recent years.

That too will soon be no more, however, as revealed by Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth in a post to Facebook. "We're bringing our brands and products closer to Meta," Bosworth explained, "which is the umbrella for all our products and services. When people buy our products, we want them to clearly understand that all of these devices come from Meta and ladder up to our metaverse vision."

"VR will be the most immersive way for people to access the metaverse and as we look toward our goal of bringing 1B people into VR, we want to make it clear that Quest is a Meta product," Bosworth continued. "For this reason, we're simplifying our brand architecture and shifting away from the Oculus brand. Starting in early 2022, you'll start to see the shift from Oculus Quest from Facebook to Meta Quest and Oculus App to Meta Quest App over time."

Bosworth called the decision to ditch the Oculus branding "very difficult", adding that, "While we're retiring the name, I can assure you that the original Oculus vision remains deeply embedded in how Meta will continue to drive mass adoption for VR today."

Bosworth also addressed the company's controversial decision to make Facebook accounts mandatory for users of its VR devices, writing that Meta is "working on new ways to log into Quest that won't require a Facebook account". Bosworth calls the feature "one of our highest priority areas of work internally", noting that it's expected to arrive next year.

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