Facebook is reportedly not rebranding the entirety of Oculus to its Reality Label, according to tech writer Joe Parlock who received an email from the tech giant.
According to Parlock on Twitter, he claims Facebook had emailed him about keeping the Oculus tag for its first-party VR projects and products. Despite the reassurance, he continues questioning the source following the company’s announcement of Facebook Reality Labs, which overshadows the six-year-old VR brand after an acquisition in 2014. Since then, the VR department has maintained its presence and Oculus Studio tag across its Rift, Rift S and Quest exclusive titles.
The name will allegedly be staying under Facebook’s umbrella term for Reality Labs, with Oculus joining other names including Spark AR and Portal. But VR communities became confused following the announcement earlier this week, after renaming Connect into Facebook Connect and Medium into Adobe Medium.
VR users and long-time Oculus communities were also divided over Facebook’s login requirement for current and future Rift headsets, forcing first-time users to create a social media account with their platform in order to gain access. Founder Palmer Luckey earlier stated his earlier promises of an independent service would be kept, while it “would be lame” to always need a Facebook account for playing or creating Rift games. Those with existing Oculus accounts would get to use them until they are deactivated in 2023, while new headset owners would have to login with Facebook starting October 2020.
“Previously, FRL was the name given to our research division, which had historically been known as Oculus Research,” Facebook wrote in their latest rebranding news for Facebook Connect. “Our research teams have helped establish Facebook Reality Labs as a pioneer in the AR/VR space as we work to deliver the next computing platform.”
