Facebook ships Oculus controllers with hidden messages

Oculus Quest and Rift S buyers may get hidden messages like “This Space For Rent” and “The Masons Were Here.”

An attendee uses the Oculus VR Inc. Rift virtual reality (VR) headset and controllers during the Oculus Connect 5 product launch event in San Jose, California, U.S., on Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018. Facebook Inc. unveiled a wireless virtual-reality headset called Oculus Quest, an attempt to help popularize the developing technology with a more mainstream audience. (Bloomberg)

Facebook has accidentally shipped thousands of Oculus Quest and Oculus Rift S controllers with "easter egg" messages inscribed on internal components.

The messages on the VR units have phrases like "This Space For Rent" and "The Masons Were Here," and some of the developer units have "Hi iFixit! We See You!" and "Big Brother Is Watching" inscribed internally, admitted Nate Mitchell, Facebook head of VR product.

"Unfortunately, some 'easter egg' labels meant for prototypes accidentally made it onto the internal hardware for tens of thousands of Touch controllers," Mitchell tweeted on Friday.

"While I appreciate easter eggs, these were inappropriate and should have been removed. The integrity and functionality of the hardware were not compromised, and we've fixed our process to prevent it's happening again," said Mitchell, the co-founder of Oculus, the Facebook-owned VR company.

 

Unfortunately, some "easter egg" labels meant for prototypes accidentally made it onto the internal hardware for tens of thousands of Touch controllers. [1/3]

— Nate Mitchell (@natemitchell) April 12, 2019

Facebook is set to launch two new VR products -- the $399 standalone Oculus VR system and the $399 PC-tethered Oculus Rift S.

Built on the Rift platform, the new VR headset combines the built-in Oculus Insight tracking technology with the power of PC. Rift S features the same integrated audio system as Oculus Quest and Oculus Go, with a headphone jack that lets one use their own favourite headphones.