The once proud name of Oculus continues its slow erosion under the Facebook banner. Where recently it was announced that new Oculus headset buyers would be required to login using a Facebook account, and all existing users would need to do so by January 2023, Oculus Studios has now been renamed entirely, to Facebook Reality Labs. While Oculus VR still exists as an entity within Facebook, it has all but been erased by its overlords.
The reasoning behind this move is one of unified branding, with Facebook stating that it would help customers to "visually identify Oculus as a part of Facebook." While that makes sense from the stance of new VR users who may not have been aware of Oculus' pedigree in the space, it'll be a shame for those who spent many years evangelizing the company and its founders for their contributions to the burgeoning technological field.
Not that original founder, Palmer Luckey, hasn't done his own brand of harm to Oculus' brand. His ties to the funding of spurious political advertisements and anti-immigrant software development haven't painted him or the company in the best of lights in recent years.
On top of the move by Facebook to rebrand Oculus Studios, it is also taking ownership of Oculus Connect, the annual VR technology conference fronted by the VR brand. It will now be known as Facebook Connect instead.
How imaginative.
