The Shady Side Of Facebook's Oculus Quest 2

If you don't get sick when you play VR, then you may be pretty excited about the new Oculus Quest 2. Not only does the latest all-in-one VR headset from Oculus boast games like Vader Immortal and The Climb 2, but the Oculus Quest 2 has been receiving positive reviews from critics. The Verge has praised the crisp display and fantastic price point, while PCMag was particularly impressed by the headset's excellent motion-tracking capabilities. By many accounts, this is the finest work yet from the folks at Oculus, as far as the standalone headsets are concerned.

However, there are quite a few things about the Oculus Quest 2 that are causing even the most devoted VR fans to pause in their tracks. In fact, nearly all of the issues with the Oculus Quest 2 seem to come from the company that owns Oculus: Facebook. The social media giant acquired Oculus back in 2014 for an astounding $2 billion, and it seems that Oculus has changed quite a bit since then.

With that in mind, let's take a closer look at the shady side of the Oculus Quest 2.

If the Oculus Quest 2 is your very first Oculus system, you will be required to have a Facebook account in order to use it, whether you like social media or not. The very fact that new users will have to sign into their Facebook accounts to use the Oculus Quest 2 has been a point of contention for many people. A Twitter poll conducted by tech pioneer Avi Bar-Zeev showed that a large number of consumers had no interest in buying a product owned by Facebook, with many fans alleging privacy concerns as their main reason.

The most frustrating part about the Facebook login requirement is that it goes directly against the original intentions of Oculus founder Palmer Luckey. When Facebook first purchased Oculus, Luckey promised fans on Reddit that they wouldn't have to sign into Facebook to be able to use Oculus products. Unfortunately, not only has it been announced that new Oculus users have to have a Facebook account, but support for the older Facebook-less Oculus accounts will end in 2023. This forces longtime users to either get on board or go elsewhere for their VR entertainment.

Even if some customers aren't particularly worried about using Facebook to play their new VR headset, they may still find themselves unable to sign in and play any games. Many users are getting locked out of Facebook or having their Oculus Quest accounts banned for seemingly no reason.

As one customer described to The Verge, "I logged into Facebook's website to lock down my profile, as I had no intention of using the social media site more than was needed, and within minutes of merging accounts ... my account was banned without any reason given or cause I can think of." According to this user, it has rendered his headset useless, turning it into "a new white paperweight."

It seems as though pre-existing Facebook users are not having quite as much trouble logging in and using their Oculus accounts. New Facebooks that are merged with Oculus accounts are apparently more likely to be flagged as spam or inauthentic in some way, which can then lead to the suspension of that Facebook account.

Okay, so there are issues with even setting up a new Facebook account and using that to access Oculus Quest content. Even if you manage to do all of that without a snag, you may find yourself losing all of your gaming progress and information if you decide to leave the social media site.

While going through the Facebook's terms of use for the Oculus, Twitter user @CixLiv discovered that any users who delete their Facebook account will also delete their Oculus account along with it. This was later confirmed by UploadVR's Ian Hamilton. Essentially, even if you have purchased multiple VR games, you will lose all of those purchases upon deleting the associated Facebook account.

Facebook may have something in mind for users who don't want to use the social media site in the future, but these plans have been left exceptionally vague. A spokesperson for Facebook told UploadVR, "We'll update existing users who choose not to log in with a Facebook account as we get closer to ending support for Oculus accounts in 2023."

While many of the issues with the Oculus Quest 2 have been on the account info side of things, several customers have run into decidedly more tangible problems. 

Multiple users have reported their headset straps breaking in half. Specifically, the straps that seem to be breaking most frequently are the Elite Strap and the Elite Battery Strap, which are supposedly made of sterner stuff than the standard one that ships with the headset. Understandably, this has frustrated gamers who shelled out the extra bucks for these straps. One Redditor shared an email from Oculus offering to refund their broken strap, which has led fans to wonder if this is more of a widespread problem than it seems. It seems that some people believe that Facebook is trying to downplay this issue.

Upon contacting Facebook about the defective straps, UploadVR received an email stating, "We're aware of some reports involving cracking or breaking of Elite Strap accessories, and we're actively looking into this." Dissatisfied customers have been encouraged to contact Oculus Support about receiving a refund for a faulty strap.