Oculus halts headset sales in Germany
Facebook says it's a temporary move and will continue supporting existing owners in the country
Oculus has stopped selling Rift and Quest headsets to German consumers.
A Facebook spokesperson confirmed the news to GamesIndustry.biz, saying, "We are temporarily pausing the sale of Oculus devices to consumers in Germany. We will continue supporting users who already own an Oculus device and we're looking forward to resuming sales in Germany soon."
The headsets have been pulled pending discussions with German regulators, but Facebook did not specify the issue that had to be resolved before the headsets could be returned to shelves.
However, German site Heise Online has received a statement from the Hamburg Commissioner for Data Protection and Freedom of Information casting doubt on the legality of Facebook's recent announcement that Oculus users will be required to create a Facebook account and tie it to the hardware.
The Commissioner was particularly skeptical about Facebook imposing that requirement on existing Oculus headset owners. (Facebook said it will stop supporting original Oculus accounts after January 1, 2023.)
The regulator was less certain about the legality of applying that requirement to new customers, but said it also might violate German laws against coupling products to services.