FTC Reportedly Leads Antitrust Probe Into Oculus
It seems that Oculus is gone but not forgotten—especially among the group of regulators that are reportedly investigating Meta's virtual reality division over potential antitrust violations.
Facebook acquired Oculus in March 2014 in a deal worth roughly $2 billion. Oculus then went on to release numerous headsets—including the Oculus Rift, Rift S, Quest, Go, and Quest 2—before Facebook said it would stop using the Oculus name after it rebranded itself as Meta.
Bloomberg now reports that the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is leading a group of state regulators as they "have been scrutinizing how Meta, the world’s largest social media company, may be using its market power in the VR space to stifle competition" over the last few months.
The report indicates that the FTC started leading regulators from New York, North Carolina, and Tennessee in this antitrust investigation sometime in 2021. The investigators are said to be asking developers for the Oculus platform about several areas of concern.
"In interviews with several developers," Bloomberg says, "the antitrust enforcers asked how the Oculus app store may be discriminating against third parties that sell apps that compete with Meta’s own software. They were also curious about Meta’s sales strategy for the Oculus VR headset and how the price of the company’s device undercuts competitors."
The report cites several instances when developers were told to remove features from their apps—including fitness tracking and the ability to stream games from a connected PC à la Oculus Link—or watch as they were removed from the Oculus platform entirely.
Meta didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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