Oculus Rift DRM Removed, but Revive Mod Still Required

UPDATE: Oculus has issued a statement on the update, saying “We continually revise our entitlement and anti-piracy systems, and in the June update we’ve removed the check for Rift hardware from the entitlement check. We won’t use hardware checks as part of DRM on PC in the future.

“We believe protecting developer content is critical to the long-term success of the VR industry, and we’ll continue taking steps in the future to ensure that VR developers can keep investing in ground-breaking new VR content.”

Original story: The Oculus Rift has quickly gone from a gaming darling and VR revolutionary to one of the most criticized companies in video games. This has happened due to a few things, starting with the sale to Facebook, followed by the shipping troubles that have continued to this day, and finally Oculus added a DRM check to make sure that players had an Oculus Rift to play their games.

This set off a firestorm of criticism, with fans complaining that the popular Revive mod was specifically targeted (though Oculus denied these allegations). Today though, they have backed down, removing the DRM check, and bringing the Oculus Store back in operation with HTC Vive and other VR headsets, at least if you use the Revive mod.

So far, Oculus has not made a public statement on the matter. It seems like they’ve somewhat backed down from their hardline exclusivity decision, though games are still technically exclusive to the Oculus Rift. But, they’ve made it easier for users to circumvent this exclusivity, and allowed them to do it without breaking any sort of DRM. Essentially, things are back to the way they were before the DRM was added, with the Revive mod working relatively easily, and without violating any DRM laws.

The reaction from the community has been swift and very positive. Revive has already been updated for the new setup, and fans are praising Oculus, saying that they are at least “meeting them halfway.” Still, many are wary about buying games directly from the Oculus Store, since they could be locked out of them at any time, if they don’t own an Oculus Rift VR headset.

The VR space is still very much in flux, but it seems like things are at least back to how they were before this controversy erupted. We’ll have to wait and see if this is a sign of changing attitudes at Oculus, or just them accepting that Revive was going to work either way.