Meta's Oculus Quest rebrand is off to a disastrous start

It's going to take us a while to get used to calling Facebook Meta, but spare a thought for Oculus Quest users, who are also being asked to call their VR headset by a new name. The gadget is now officially called the Meta Quest – but getting users to accept the change looks like it's set to prove something of a quest in itself.

In a tweet posted last week, the company attempted to use humour to announce the change, sharing a version of the famous 'two buttons' meme rendered in the Quest's  3D style. But it seems for most users, Meta isn't better. (Not got into the VR game yet? Check out the best VR headset deals.)

The recently renamed Meta Quest VR account shared an image of the two red buttons, with one reading, 'Oculus' and the other, 'Meta Quest'. Accompanying the image is the text, 'New name, same mission'. (Shouldn't that be 'same Quest'?)

Predictably, it hasn't gone well for Meta. The post is littered with responses along the lines of "I am NEVER calling it the Meta Quest," (along with some less repeatable versions of the same sentiment). "Nobody wants this," one user comments, while another adds, "Leave it to Facebook to erase the legacy of the company that pioneered modern VR and use their tech to chokehold the last frontier of the internet for their corporate greed and advertising purposes."

Indeed, so vociferous was the response that Meta felt compelled to issue what you could almost call an apology. "We hear you," the company tweeted the same day. "We all have a strong attachment to the Oculus brand, and this was a very difficult move to make. While we’re changing the brand of the hardware, Oculus will continue to be a core part of our DNA and will live on in things like software and developer tools." But the response from Oculus fans was pretty much the same as before.

Still, despite the branding controversy, the Oculus Quest (yeah, we're gonna keep calling it for now) is going from strength to strength. This Christmas was the product's best ever in terms of sales, and if rumours are to be believed, the Oculus Quest Pro is already sounding pretty incredible. If you want to see what all the fuss is about, check out today's best Quest 2 deals below.

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