Facebook to Discontinue Rift Product Line in 2021, Will No Longer Build PC-only VR Headsets
Capping off dwindling interest in the PC side of the VR spectrum, Facebook said today that it will discontinue the Rift product line early 2021 and will no longer build PC-only VR headsets. Though the company says “the Rift...
Facebook Accounts Using Fake Names, Among Other Violations, Risk Losing Access to Oculus Content
With Facebook recently moving to require the use of a Facebook account with Oculus headsets we wanted to understand how violations of the company's Facebook Community Standards would intersect with its headsets. The company says that violations—including accounts that...
Leak Confirms Quest 2 with Snapdragon XR2, Higher Resolution & 256GB Variant
A massive leak featuring several promotional videos has confirmed the upcoming Quest 2's basic specs ahead of Facebook Connect this week.
Much of the info comes from two similar introductory videos, which are hosted on the company's Facebook Blueprint developer...
Facebook Expands Access to ‘Venues’ Beta Ahead of Connect Next Week
Facebook dropped the Oculus prefix for its social VR event viewing platform, rebranding it to simply Venues—another ostensible move to minimize the Oculus name (eg: Facebook Connect now, not Oculus Connect). Now the company is widening access to Venues in...
Facebook Halts Sale of Rift & Quest in Germany Amid Regulatory Concerns
Facebook has halted sales of all Oculus VR headsets in Germany, something the company says will be temporary during its ongoing talks with German regulators.
Update (11:35 AM ET): MIXED has obtained a statement (German) from the German Federal Cartel...
In ‘Horizon’ Facebook Can Invisibly Observe Users in Real-time to Spot Rule Violations
Facebook Horizon is shaping up to be an interesting social VR offering with powerful building tools that will allow players to create and share their own worlds. But equally powerful are tools the company has baked into Horizon for monitoring users...
Oculus Connect Rebranded to Facebook Connect, to be Hosted Online September 16th
After six annual Oculus Connect conferences, Facebook is rebranding its XR developer event with the name Facebook Connect. This year the event will be held online on September 16th.
Although it no longer bears the Oculus name, Facebook says that...
Here’s Where Facebook “Guaranteed” Users Would Never Need a Facebook Account to Use Oculus Headsets
If you wondered why yesterday's news stirred such a significant reaction from the VR community at large, it's not just because Facebook doesn't have a stellar reputation on privacy, it's also because the company specifically promised it wouldn't force...
New Oculus Users Required to Use Facebook Account Starting in October, Existing Users by 2023
As Oculus becomes increasingly merged with parent company Facebook, new users will soon be required to sign into their headset with a Facebook account. Existing users will be able to use their separate Oculus accounts until the end of...
Facebook Reality Labs Shows Method for Expanding Field of View of Holographic Displays
Researchers from Facebook's R&D department, Facebook Reality Labs, and the University of California, Berkeley have published new research which demonstrates a method for expanding the field-of-view of holographic displays.
In the paper, titled High Resolution Étendue Expansion for Holographic Displays, researchers...
Facebook Develops AI Supersampling to Boost Rendering Performance for High-resolution VR Headsets
Facebook has developed an AI-assisted method for supersampling real-time rendered content, something that could become an integral addition to games coming to future generations of high-resolution VR headsets.
There's an ongoing arms race between display technology and GPUs, and adding...
Facebook Buys Its Third VR Studio, ‘Lone Echo’ Developer Ready at Dawn
Facebook announced today that it has acquired Ready at Dawn, marking the company's third VR studio buyout. The 17 year old game studio is most recently known for its acclaimed VR titles, Lone Echo and Echo VR, both published...
Facebook Shows Prototype AR/VR Interface Designed to Replace Your Laptop
In light of the global pandemic, Facebook announced last week it was making way for more productivity and collaboration apps on the Oculus Store to help bridge businesses together in a time of social distancing. Now, Facebook has shown...
Facebook’s ‘Oculus for Business’ Quest Enterprise Platform is Finally Openly Available
Facebook today announced that its Oculus for Business program is finally openly available. The program, which was announced more than a year ago, was slow to roll out as Facebook dealt only with a small number of select partners....
Facebook to Start Accepting Collaboration & Productivity Apps on Oculus Quest
For many, remote work may be a new long-term reality. In that spirit, Facebook today announced that it will be introducing more collaboration and productivity apps to the Oculus Store for Quest soon.
The first productivity apps are said to...