Facebook Warns of Hit to Oculus Production From Coronavirus

Facebook said on Friday production of its Oculus virtual reality headset would be hit by the recent coronavirus outbreak, which has weighed on businesses dependent on Chinese supply lines.

Earlier in January, the world’s largest social media network started restricting its employees from travelling to China, in the face of rising death toll from the flu-like virus.

“Due to the coronavirus we began taking additional safety precautions, which has compounded this issue and is why we expect additional impact on production,” a Facebook spokesperson told Reuters.

Facebook unveiled Oculus Quest, which comes with touch controllers and does not need a PC to operate, in September 2018 at $399.

“Oculus Quest was already in high demand and back-ordered in several regions,” the spokesperson said.

Also this week, Ericsson, LG, and Nvidia pulled out of attending the MWC 2020 trade fair in Barcelona, Spain over coronavirus fears. LG said, “This decision will prevent needlessly exposing hundreds of LG employees to international travel, which most health experts have advised.”

Ericsson said, “We weren’t able to guarantee the safety of our employees but also all of the people who will be visiting us at the booth.” Nvidia said, “Given public health risks around the coronavirus, ensuring the safety of our colleagues, partners and customers are our highest concern. We have been looking forward to sharing our work in AI, 5G and vRAN with the industry, we regret not attending, but believe this is the right decision.”