The Oculus brand slowly continues to be phased out by Facebook. Yesterday, the internal AR and VR studio got its name officially changed to Facebook Reality Labs, and the Oculus Connect conference was also rebranded to Facebook Connect. It will take place virtually on September 16th.
According to the company, this will help customers with 'visually identifying Oculus as a part of Facebook'.
Today, we’re introducing a new name for Facebook’s AR/VR team — Facebook Reality Labs (FRL) — to encompass the expansive work being done at Facebook as we build the next computing platform to help people feel more present with each other, even when we’re apart. We’re also excited to share the date for our annual conference, Facebook Connect (formerly Oculus Connect), which will be held virtually on September 16 and is free for everyone to attend. At Facebook Connect, you’ll hear more on our vision for Facebook Reality Labs and the latest innovations from our team and developer community. You can watch the keynote and sessions on the FRL Facebook page.
This is our seventh year hosting our annual AR/VR conference, and over the years, Connect has grown to include so much more than Oculus, with research updates and product news from Spark AR to Portal from Facebook. Moving forward, our annual AR/VR event will be called Facebook Connect to better reflect its broader scope, and we look forward to sharing even more news that represents the work happening across the entire Facebook Reality Labs team. This year, viewers can experience keynotes from Facebook leaders and industry visionaries to hear about the latest innovations in AR/VR and join immersive developer sessions.
Before today, we lacked a unified brand identity from which to tell the story of how we’re building the future of VR and AR. With the Facebook Reality Labs name, we’re making clear where these technologies are coming from. We hope you’ll come along for the ride. In the meantime, we’ll be working in the lab.
Last week, we learned that Oculus devices will eventually require Facebook accounts in 2023 in order to have access to their 'full functionality'.
About the author: With over two decades of experience in gaming journalism, Alessio Palumbo has led the gaming vertical at Wccftech since August 2015. He started working at a young age for Italian websites like Everyeye.it, Gamestar.it, Nextgame.it, and Multiplayer.it before kickstarting the indie English-language publication Worlds Factory as its founder and Editor in Chief. In the last decade, he has coordinated the overall output of Wccftech's gaming section, managed PR relations, assigned reviews, produced daily news coverage, edited gaming content as needed, and delivered game reviews. Arguably, his trademark content is the long series of exclusive developer interviews that have been cited by Wikipedia and by the biggest news media and gaming publications. His passion for technology also makes him knowledgeable when it comes to gaming hardware and tech. His favorite genres include RPGs, MMORPGs, and action/adventure games.
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