Facebook pushing ads in Oculus Quest 2 VR gaming headsets: Playing Virtual Reality games will result in additional data collection

Facebook Oculus Quest 2 VR Gaming Headset Ads
Ads while playing VR games. Pic credit: Maximilian Prandstätter/Flickr/CC BY 2.0

Facebook had previously mandated that Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality (VR) gaming headset buyers create a Facebook account. It is now amply clear why. The social media giant will begin inserting special VR ads within the headset.

Facebook is up to its usual tricks with content monetization and customized advertising. And its latest delivery medium is the Oculus Quest 2 Virtual Reality (VR) ecosystem.

Facebook monetizing VR platform using targeted advertising:

Facebook will soon begin testing ads inside its Oculus Quest VR gaming system. Ads will gradually start appearing inside the Resolution Games title Blaston as well as two other unnamed apps.

It is amply clear that Facebook is quite keen on boosting the monetization of Virtual Reality. And it is adopting its usual tactics: data-driven targeted advertising.

The social media giant has confirmed that it will expand the advertising system using “user feedback”. Moreover, Facebook categorically noted that it aims to create a “self-sustaining platform” for VR development.

“Once we see how this test goes and incorporate feedback from developers and the community, we’ll provide more details on when ads may become more broadly available across the Oculus platform and in the Oculus mobile app,”

This basically implies Facebook will begin inserting targeted advertisements within Oculus Quest 2 VR headsets. And, there’s nothing that buyers or players can do to prevent the same.

How will ads work inside Oculus Quest 2 VR gaming headsets?

Facebook has mentioned that ads will leverage “first-party info from Facebook to target these ads”. Simply put, any data that the social media giant collects through its main platform will help to create custom ad campaigns.

Incidentally, Facebook hasn’t yet officially mentioned any limitations that might apply around the data it will use to deliver targeted advertisements.

On the contrary, the company has openly suggested that it does look at biometric and VR user data. However, such data won’t apply to Facebook’s new advertising platform, for now.

Facebook has officially mentioned that it processes and keeps track of the following data that users themselves upload while connected to any Oculus services:

  • “Weight, height, or gender information that you choose to provide to Oculus Move [a pre-installed fitness suite]”
  • “Movement data” that Facebook uses to “keep you safe from bumping into real-world objects”—in other words, every single way your head and hands move around within VR and relative spatial data about the rooms you play VR within, which researchers have concluded can be used to create a recognizable biometric profile after only minutes of training
  • “The content of your conversations with people on apps like Messenger, Parties, and [Oculus] chats or your [Oculus] voice interactions”

There’s no doubt that Facebook will actively explore revenue streams on Virtual Reality. And targeted advertising is one of the social media giant’s biggest and best mediums.

Facebook is openly monetizing its VR platform, and actively acquiring game developers and publishers who specialize in VR. Hence, it might be the right time to consider the limited alternatives from HTC, Lenovo, Microsoft, Qualcomm, etc.

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