Oculus wants to make it easier to stay social while wearing a VR headset. The Facebook-owned company is adding Facebook Messenger to the Oculus Quest and Quest 2 headsets. You’ll be able to chat with friends by typing out a message using the system’s controllers, selecting from a few quick message choices or using the platform’s voice-to-text feature.
Your friends will receive the text on any device compatible with Facebook Messenger — they don’t have to be using a VR device as well. Though if you strike up a conversation and they do have a headset, you’ll supposedly be able to jump directly into a game together using Oculus Party.
Oculus announced the update in a blog post Tuesday and noted that the feature won’t change your existing privacy settings. You can also sign out of Facebook Messenger before sharing your headset if you’d prefer and you can still use Oculus Chat.
In addition to adding Facebook Messenger, Oculus is rolling out App Lab, a platform where independent developers can share their VR games. The App Lab will offer smaller titles that might not meet the criteria for the platform’s main Oculus Store. Developers will be able to use App Lab to share their games with a simple link or a digital key.
