You and up to three friends can now share a single Quest headset.
Oculus Quest and Quest 2 owners are finally getting several features they’ve been asking for since launch: support for multiple accounts and app sharing. Yes, family and friends will soon be able to log into the same headset via multiple accounts, allowing you to split your headset with others without sharing information like progression, stats, and various other personal game data. App sharing, on the other hand, allows anyone with a secondary login access to every VR game and app on the primary account. You can even earn achievements and save your progress.
Facebook anticipates that this move will help promote the growth of VR adoption with users as well as help with app exposure for developers. It’s also a move to help the company with any or future piracy issues.
Primary account owners will have the ability to add up to three secondary accounts per headset. Support for multiple accounts will extend first to the Oculus Quest 2 followed by original Oculus Quest headsets at a later time.
In a recent developer blog post, Oculus explains that multi-user support is still in its early stages and that the number of secondary users could change depending on feedback from both consumers and developers. I expect consumers are fine with support for additional accounts. After all, why buy 3 VR headsets when you can buy just one to share? Developers, on the other hand, may be less accepting of the new feature, as it could potentially eventually lead to a decrease in app sales.
Secondary account users not only have access to the primary account owners content, but the ability to purchase their own games and experiences as well. They are not, however, able to share their purchases with the primary account.
It was reported back in August of 2020 that all Quest 2 owners would require a Facebook account in order to access future Oculus hardware. This policy still stands and is required for all secondary accounts.
Any VR app developer who has a game or experience in the Oculus Quest store will automatically be opted into Facebook’s App Sharing feature beginning February 13, 2021. You can, however, opt out by visiting your Org Manager page. Just know that you have until February 12, 2021 to do so.
All new Oculus Rift/Rift S or Oculus Quest/Quest 2 apps submitted to the Oculus platform beginning February 13, 2021 will be required to support App Sharing and must follow Oculus’s App Policies.
Multi-user support will begin rolling out next month on Oculus Quest 2 headset.
Image Credit: Facebook, Oculus
