Meta kicked Oculus users out of their customized virtual homes. Those affected are sharing pictures of their lost digital spaces.
An update to the Oculus PC app has removed the customizable Oculus Home feature, which was introduced in 2017. Previously, Reddit users had reported that they no longer had access to their virtual homes. The shutdown came without warning or the ability to save the digital spaces.
Software engineer and Twitter user Kaitlyn noted that the corresponding binaries were completely removed and called Meta the "worst landlord ever."
they removed all of the binaries without even warning people that they'd get evicted, worst landlord ever.
on another note, they killed the servers entirely i think. you just load into a white void now with nothing happening, can't even get your home anymore.
— kaitlyn~ (bluesky: @kaitlyn.moe) (@ItsKaitlyn03) May 21, 2023
Meta discontinues PC VR features
Meta discontinued its Rift line in 2021 and has not produced a PC-only VR headset since. With Quest Link, it was still possible to access Oculus Home with Meta Quest until recently.
The Quest platform offers its native and PC-independent VR home: it's called Horizon Home, but it doesn't offer nearly as much customization options as Oculus Home. Meta has been promising more customization for Horizon Home for years, but so far, you can only swap out the 360-degree panoramas in Home environments.
Meta's PC VR platform has been increasingly scaled back since Meta's pivot to Quest and standalone VR. To be sure, Meta continues to invest in its Quest Link PC VR connection: It released a USB dongle with D-Link and is worked with Intel on a Wi-Fi chip optimized for PC VR streaming. But a native PC VR interface for Quest, announced for 2020, seemingly remains a long way off.
Examples of lost Oculus Homes
In Internet forums and on Twitter, users share pictures of their VR homes to preserve them for posterity.
Below are some of the images I was able to find on the Internet. Notice how detailed and different the digital rooms look.
Exotic Oculus Home with Caribbean setting background. | Image: Chris Madsen
A fancy art deco-style Oculus Home. | Image: Dan Amrich
A Cyberpunk-y Oculus Home. | Image: Honetsuki
A surreal Oculus Home. | Image: Benjamin Mattice
Another beautiful Oculus Home with a classic style. | Image: RuneSR2
The Oculus Home from MIXED | Image: MIXED