As a part of its rebranding, Meta, the new name for the company behind Facebook, is retiring the Oculus name for its brand of virtual reality headsets. Having acquired the VR company Oculus in 2014, Facebook Inc. (now doing business as Meta) has grown the brand and incorporated it as a part of Facebook Technologies. Now, with the company’s change in direction, it seems that it’s time for the Oculus Quest to step down — and make room for the Meta Quest.
Announced on Oct. 28 at the Facebook Connect 2021 conference, Meta announced that the Oculus brand will be discarded and renamed to the Meta line. Accordingly, the Oculus Quest VR line will become the Meta Quest line in 2022.
Considering how integrated Facebook is to the Oculus headsets, this decision to make the VR line fit with the new brand makes sense. What impact this will have on the success of the Meta VR headsets in the future remains to be seen.
Why is Oculus Quest getting a name change to Meta Quest?
Since Meta’s acquisition of Oculus, the brand has undergone changes to align with Facebook’s direction regarding virtual reality. This name change reflects the latest push to create a VR headset that reflects Meta’s VR initiatives.
Facebook App’s VP of AR/VR Andrew Bosworth explained the name change in a Facebook post:
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. For this reason, we’re simplifying our brand architecture and shifting away from the Oculus brand for our hardware.
Andrew Bosworth, VP of AR/VR at Facebook App
Meta also revealed that the requirement for a Facebook account to use the Meta Quest will be relaxed. Many speculate this means you won’t need a Facebook account to use it, but this hasn’t been directly confirmed yet.
What do you think of Meta retiring the Oculus Quest name? Let us know!
Via TechRaptor.
