• 

  The HTC Vive Focus 3, the company's latest and highest-powered untethered VR system yet. New controllers, improved internal specs... and a very high MSRP of $1,299. [credit: HTC ]

Today's VR-centric ViveCon 2021, presented by HTC's Vive division of VR headsets, kicks off with two new headset models slated to launch this year.

That's probably the headline HTC wants VR fans to focus on—hooray, new stuff to strap to faces—but a closer examination of both headsets (and feedback directly from HTC's executive team) puts a damper on that, at least for any average consumer interested in buying either.

The Vive Focus 3 , HTC's newest "all-in-one" untethered VR headset, competes directly with the Oculus Quest 2 , but it costs a whopping $1,000 more than the Facebook-branded option, at $1,299 MSRP. And the Vive Pro 2 , a long-overdue spec bump to 2018's Vive Pro , resembles the earlier model all too much while costing either $799 by itself or $1,399 for its "full kit."

Enlarge (credit: Aurich Lawson / Getty Images )

On Tuesday, Facebook found another way to aggravate millions of users—though this time, the outrage came from its virtual reality department. The company announced that it would soon mandate the use of Facebook accounts within its Oculus ecosystem , all in order to "unlock social features." In Facebook's ideal world, you'll be your Facebook self on the Facebook VR system... instead of using an existing, separate "Oculus ID."

What's the big deal, you may ask? This isn't the first time a major tech company has tried to combine various services under a "unified account" umbrella. But while Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and others have spent years building such empires, none has pulled quite the bait-and-switch as Facebook did yesterday. And it's not a matter of tech business as usual. Facebook's latest decision deserves fierce scrutiny, right now, before it explodes like a virus outside of the niche that is virtual reality.

The Facebookening isn’t new—just more extreme

For older, existing Oculus VR products, this mandated switch from Oculus ID to Facebook accounts will begin January 1, 2023—and older devices will still function in an "offline" capacity (and will support tweaks like side-loaded, non-Oculus apps). What's more, buyers of "new" Oculus hardware—including sleeker, higher-performing VR headsets—won't have those old Oculus IDs as an option. Should you buy the company's next fancy-pants headset, your purchase alone will not suffice; you must also log in with a valid Facebook account before that new headset will function.