Oculus Connect 7, the yearly developer conference hosted by Facebook, will take place online this year because of the COVID-19 imposed limitations.
Facebook announced the the news recently:
“Every year, Oculus Connect brings together developers, content creators, marketers, and more to celebrate the VR industry’s momentum and growth. In light of the evolving public health risks related to COVID-19, we’ve decided to shift Oculus Connect 7 to a digital format later this year.”
That is the first time when the event will happen online. Facebook added:
“This was a tough decision to make, but we need to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees, and everyone involved in OC7. Oculus Connect gives us an unprecedented opportunity to connect with our global developer community. OC7 will be no exception, and we look forward to sharing more details about the digital event in the coming months.”
A Generous Donation
The company agreed to donate $500,000 to organizations serving San Jose residents. That might be because the conference has been held in San Jose for the past few years.
Similar Cases
Unfortunately for us, most major VR and gaming events have been affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. We have seen significant events like GDC, E3, Facebook F8, and more get canceled, which is truly unfortunate.
The fun part is that, while Oculus connect is a conference about VR, there was no virtual reality aspect to it.
According to Facebook, Oculus Connect 7 will be “digital,” not “virtual,” which means that the VR component will still be missing.
However, HTC managed to hold its latest Vive Ecosystem Conference into VR last month, much to the audience and speakers’ surprise. The entirely virtual setting turned out to be adequate for such events.
