Amid the news that Facebook is changing its corporate name to Meta, there were also some surprising changes for the Oculus VR brand announced. Facebook is trying to distance itself from its own name by creating the Meta brand. The Facebook name is being removed from practically everything except the website itself. Over the next few months, Facebook will be switching its branding over to Meta branding, including renaming products like the Facebook Portal to the Meta Portal.
That change is also being applied to Oculus. The Oculus Quest, the best-selling VR headset on the market, will now become the Meta Quest. The Oculus Quest App will now be the Meta Quest App. It’s surprising that the company would want to change the Oculus branding, as it is untainted by the Facebook name. However, it appears to be part of a plan for Meta to bring about its Metaverse. The Metaverse is in development by the company formally known as Facebook. Meta claims that the name change reflects the future of the company and its focus on developing the Metaverse.
Although the Metaverse doesn’t exist yet, changing the Oculus Quest into the Meta Quest is likely a way to try and gain brand name recognition for when it is available. For Oculus fans, the change to Meta Quest may be worrying. When Facebook bought Oculus back in 2014, it promised not to interfere with the company. Now, Oculus is no more and it will become an arm of Meta in the race to start the Metaverse.
One silver lining for Oculus owners is that Facebook accounts will no longer be required to use the VR headsets. Facebook angered Oculus fans last year when it announced that a Facebook account would be required to use Oculus headsets. Facebook accounts will no longer be required to use the headsets from next year. What type of accounts will be required to use the VR headsets is uncertain.