It seems like there is no going back.
VR Ads
Magical virtual reality won’t be as magical as you thought! Facebook has decided to spoil our virtual realities a little by squeezing ads into the magical virtual world enabled by its Oculus Quest VR headset. This should not be surprising as Facebook is heading towards another level of innovation.
To put it into simple words, the disturbing dystopian nightmare is right in your face making it impossible to avoid the annoying ads pop up. Though, the company is addressing the change as a way for developers (read: Facebook) to get more money from their VR games and apps.
Recently a test was performed where the social media chose to include display ads inside a shooter arcade game developed by Resolution Games. They tried to make the ads displayed much more relevant to the user but, no matter how relevant, the people are mainly interested in what they already invested in.
Those consumers will also have to capitalize on a different platform. In the current scenario, users are forced to sign in with Facebook to use their $299 Oculus Quest 2. But, you never know; some might be hesitant to do so.
More Revenue
Mark Zuckerberg is basically trying to sell off the ad idea as a way to make VR a “self-sustaining platform” by allowing developers to make as much money as they can. “It also helps us continue to make innovative AR/VR hardware more accessible to more people,” a polished-by-the-PR-team blog update by the Oculus team delivers.
“For now, this is a test with a few apps,” the post declaims. If all goes well, Oculus is ready to squash all other apps “across the Oculus Platform and in the Oculus mobile app, as well as guidance for businesses and developers interested in advertising on Oculus.”
Facebook heads towards taking care of people’s privacy and is hopeful to “not use information processed and stored locally on your headset to target ads.”
The social media company is also allegedly working on a smartwatch, and a pair of AR glasses is to be launched soon. But, of course, you never know all their upcoming launches would downpour our lives with unwanted ads or not.
It is still vague what picture the VR ads would take as Facebook is trying out “new ad formats that are unique to VR,” but didn’t specify what that would look like, as The Verge points out. Either way, this strategy is not something that gamers or VR apps users have been longing for.