Facebook Just Renamed Oculus Connect
Oculus Connect 2020 is now no longer an event, as the name of the event has been changed to Facebook Connect. Facebook introduced "the new Facebook Reality Labs" at the same time as they've announced a re-naming of the annual Oculus developer event. This new event will begin in a "virtual" format – though not entirely in the virtual reality realm.
"This is our seventh year hosting our annual AR/VR conference, and over the years, Connect has grown to include so much more than Oculus, with research updates and product news from Spark AR to Portal from Facebook," said Andrew Bosworth, Head of the newly re-branded Facebook Reality Labs. "Moving forward, our annual AR/VR event will be called Facebook Connect to better reflect its broader scope, and we look forward to sharing even more news that represents the work happening across the entire Facebook Reality Labs team."
Because of our current reality with global pandemic and social distancing for safety's sake, Facebook Connect will take place remotely, or as Bosworth said today, the event "will be held virtually". The date of Facebook Connect September 16, 2020. At this time it would appear that there is just one day of talks scheduled.
One way to experience this event is to stay tuned to the FBL Facebook page. UPDATE: This event will contain two elements – one main keynote speech, and a collection of "sessions."
It's also suggested that the Facebook Connect event will take place via "Oculus Venues", but no such venues have yet been shared.
Oculus Connect 2020 will not occur, depending on your point of view, since it'll exist instead as Facebook Connect. The event will be functionally the same, but the Facebook brand will reign supreme. Oculus will still be there in force, and both the Oculus and the Facebook Reality Labs brands will exist separately.
Or so we're to understand, as of now. It's always possible that Facebook could further integrate Oculus into their own Facebook Reality Labs system. It's also possible that Oculus could get re-branded as Facebook Oculus, or something similar. Based on Facebook's work with Instagram and WeChat, we're still assuming that they'll keep Oculus separate enough from the Facebook entity that they wont be considered to be one company by the public.