The Oculus Quest 2 has been the best value in VR since it debuted in October 2020. It’s the first standalone device that is powerful enough to deliver a PC quality VR experience and is incredibly affordable for what it offers. Despite the requirement to sign in with a Facebook account and an increasingly terrible UI, the Quest 2 has largely been a hit with owners. However, Facebook is putting the headset’s success at risk by launching ads in-game on Oculus Quest 2.
Why are there ads in Oculus Quest 2 games?
The Oculus ecosystem has been devoid of ads for years, but starting last month, Facebook began displaying ads inside the Oculus mobile app. This seems to have been a trial run to ramp up its main goal of bringing ads into the games themselves. According to a blog, starting soon, Facebook will start displaying ads in three Oculus Quest apps, including Blaston, a paid game.
So, even though users are purchasing games and the headset outright, Facebook will be subjecting them to ads in games purchased through the Oculus Store. The company says it will use data gathered from profiles to target apps. However, it won’t be using any images from the Oculus Quest headset’s sensors.
The first round of ads will take the form of boxes inside apps and games. Players will have the option to click these apps and open a browser in-game or bookmark them for later.
Facebook’s reasoning for introducing ads is:
“This is a key part of ensuring we’re creating a self-sustaining platform that can support a variety of business models that unlock new types of content and audiences. It also helps us continue to make innovative AR/VR hardware more accessible to more people.”
Oculus headsets are by far the most popular VR devices on the market today. Their capabilities for the price are unmatched, and this is likely because Facebook is subsidizing them. Now that there’s a large Oculus userbase, Facebook is obviously looking to capitalize. Fortunately, playing games through Oculus Link (at least on Steam VR) should remain ad-free.
