Facebook parent company Meta has announced an exciting innovation on its own blog, which should be especially interesting for owners of VR systems like the Meta Quest 2. The new Meta Account will soon put an end to the virtual reality glasses’ Facebook compulsion.
Meta account improves stand of own VR systems
The Meta Quest 2 VR goggles are not officially available in Germany due to a dispute with the antitrust authorities. Oculus, the VR division belonging to Meta, also has to justify itself before the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
With the new Meta accounts, they are now ushering in a new era, as it finally eliminates the requirement to use a Facebook account if you want to use one of the manufacturer’s VR systems. Until now, an account from the social network or the Instagram network, which also belongs to the group, were mandatory.
“If you don’t want to use your Facebook and/or Instagram account in VR, that’s up to you,” Meta writes in introducing the new accounts. While you can add the new Meta account to the same hub as your Facebook and Instagram accounts, which unlocks “connected experiences across different meta technologies”, it’s not mandatory as of August 2022.
This follows the plans that CEO Mark Zuckerberg had already announced as part of Connect 2021 and moves from a Facebook-first to a Metaverse-first approach. Whether and to what extent this is really better remains to be seen for now.
These are the meta-accounts
Due to the overwhelming feedback from the community, it was decided to drop the Facebook account requirement for logging into Meta Quest systems. Thus, the new meta-account structure is intended to offer users more flexibility and control.
The meta-account gives you an overview of your VR devices in one place, without any social media components or profiles, and lets you centrally manage your purchased apps and games.
At the same time, the Oculus profile is evolving into a new Meta Horizon profile. It represents your social presence, including your avatar, in VR environments and everywhere else you use the profile. The profile can be customized in terms of username, avatar, and other information.
From August 2022, connections already linked to the Facebook account can be converted into a new Meta account, and from 01 January 2023, the new account will then be mandatory to continue using Meta VR devices.
Is Meta Quest 2 officially coming to Germany?
Meta might have had with the introduction of the new accounts for VR systems but not only the user welfare in mind, but also their own interests. After all, the Facebook compulsion had led to VR systems like the Meta Quest 2 not being allowed to be sold in this country in the first place.
With the removal of the mandatory link with a Facebook account, Meta apparently also takes a first step in the direction of enabling sales in this country again. This could soon put an end to the tiresome import of Meta VR goggles, even though nothing official has been announced in this regard yet. However, the end of Facebook’s compulsion could come in handy for Meta in its dispute with the German Federal Cartel Office.
In any case, the far-reaching privacy settings of the new Meta Accounts are highlighted very presently in the presentation. The company also answers important questions about the new Meta accounts, Meta Horizon and other topics in the new FAQ section about the adjustments.
However, the detachment from the Facebook obligation will also be interesting for the VR future within the Meta Group. As recently as late June 2022, the company unveiled three prototypes and a render image of future VR MHDs, which could provide aglimpse of what VR systems might look like at Meta.
