Oculus Go: Failed Entitlement Check

[RobbyC57D]

As the title says. Recently I get this message, "Failed Entitlement Check" when I launch the app Virtual Desktop Streamer.  I have owned the app for years.  

I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the App

Factory reset the The Oculus

Even Launched the app from the phone app 

All with the same results. 

I have also noticed that the app store will not load on the Oculus. It looks like it tries to start but then shuts down right away. 

I realize this is a very old device but any help is appreciated. 

Thanks

[VeArGo]

Actually, i would expect from Meta to keep it running as long as it exists. "Infrastructure" is a big word for what is in principle a licence server. I don't know the system but I assume that is a simple database lookup if the user is eligible to use an app. The smaller the user base the smaller the "infrastructure".

Let`s do some estimates:

- approx 2 Million GO sales

- high estimate: 10% still using GO daily (I think much less) -> 200.000 users

- let`s say a user uses 5 GO apps a day

This would result in about about one million requests a day.

From my estimate 1 server or some virtual setup could handle this easily.

Let`s say you use two blades for redundancy -> approx $2000 to $3000 hardware cost per 5 years

Admin hours 20 per year -> approx. $2000 per year

1000W Power consumption (should be much less due to load): $1400 per year

This results in at max $4000 per year for Meta just for keeping it running.

Now set this into perspective to loss of user trust and bad news.

I don't get it!

[desiv]

I can maybe accept your numbers as a "this is the least it might cost us" estimate.

But as someone who has worked with backend systems (not gaming, not digital entitlement), I can tell you the costs/risks for maintaining older infrastructure will always be much higher than just the base of what it will cost to keep it running.  

There's lots of things to consider, such as security.  This thing has ties to the backend user database.  That means any security changes along the path might require small tweaks to keep this happy.  

I've definitely been involved in "hey, we need to update this thing that was written by those guys who are no longer working here..." type of things.  They happen and they are messy...  and can be expensive.

Honestly, "keeping the infrastructure running" is not the solution.

What I think should happen is that this digital infrastructure should be written so that it locks OPEN when it times out.  That would probably mean more frequent checks, because you don't want someone just walling off their system to get it to open up. 😉  And you'd have to mix it with date checks.   It's not just a simple "Hey, if they stop responding let's go free..."  But I don't think it would be too difficult to do. 

Now, it's not perfect.  At some time, someone will factory reset something and the game won't be able to be re-downloaded/revalidated.  (Backups people!!!!)  So some people will eventually lose their game.  But that is inevitable.  

The argument against failing open would be the "But if it eventually goes free, that would hurt our sales when we try to sell a version on our newer hardware..."
Personally, I don't agree with that argument.  I have bought newer/updated versions of some of my Go games for my Quest 2.  If it is worth it, people will buy.  That market will always be there. 

Will some small percentage not buy a newer version?  Yes, but many of them wouldn't likely have bought even if an older version wasn't available.

And yes, there would be a really small percentage who do buy because they were "forced" to do so, but that is a tiny percentage.  The fact is, in the video game industry, a game makes its money in the first 6 months or so after release.  Once that happens, the game is basically done.  Chasing further sales is a money losing proposition at that point.  Look at Republique VR...  I bought and loved that game (still do!).  But after a while, the publisher made it free.  Good press and just not worth chasing sales anymore...
UNLESS you have an online game with in-game purchases!  That changes EVERYTHING!!!  But those games are best (IMHO) given out for free, since the whole point is to drive the in-game purchases.  
To recap, I don't think/expect the infrastructure to be kept running is a good idea.  
But I do think these should be setup so they don't eventually just die when full support ends.
(But I don't expect that to happen...  Cynic...)

[desiv]

"This also strengthens my decision to only have old consoles that have an optical drive. They don't run entitlement checks, right?"

Same here, although as for physical media games not having an entitlement check, I'm not so sure.

With a system that was designed with internet connectivity as part of it, there's no reason why a physical media game might not also have an entitlement check...

I'm not aware of any, but it wouldn't surprise me to find out some company has done that...  Especially for the games where they have physical and digital versions.  I could definitely see the physical versions of those still having entitlement checks.  That said, I am not aware of any... 

But I don't do modern console gaming.  The Quest 2 is the newest "game system" I own.  And I don't really do newer PC gaming either, where I could also see it...  

[minseon7]

Services are not running when I connect to Oculus GO.

Not only does it not connect to the store, but even when I turn on paid apps, they flicker and log in like a light switch, then quickly shut down.

Some game apps prompt me to sign in to the store.

It seems that the authentication process failed and the paid game won't open.

I can no longer download wallpapers,

I can no longer run the apps I purchased, which is pretty much the end of the service.

Does this mean I should throw my Oculus GO device in the trash?

I look forward to your answer.

[desiv]

"I look forward to your answer."

The official answer from Meta is that the Oculus Go is no longer supported (it is in this merged thread).  Doesn't mean they might not get these things working again, but I personally wouldn't bet on that...

That said, there are some great resources out there for still being able to use your Go unsupported.

If you do a google search for "oculus go 2024", the first result should be a Reddit thread on this.

There is a lot of great information in that thread on what you might be able to do...

I wouldn't throw out your Go quite yet.  I am still using mine.

Good luck.

[sheilat]

So we cannot play our bought apps on oculus anymore, but I recently bought and downloaded Lands End and was able to play the game. If we can still purchase apps and play them, then why can't they make it so all our other apps are playable?

[ALionlikeMane]

Just so we're crystal clear, there is nothing about this "solution" that is acceptable.

When the Wii eShop was shut down, we all had ample time to download what we wanted and from there the burden was on us to take care of our hardware and manage our backups. Which means; with due diligence (on our behalf), preservation was possible. The same is true of the Wii U and every non-cloud digital shutdown. And it's not just smoke and mirrors... I can confidently fire up any digital purchase I made on DS, DSi, 3DS, Wii, Wii U... they all still work to this day.

This means that what Meta has done to Oculus Go (and by proxy GearVR) users is substantially worse than other digital shutdowns.

Here, no matter how well we take care of our Oculus Go/GearVR, there's an underlying "entitlement check" system in place that can stop us from enjoying our content, even if it's something fully offline like "The Knight of Queen". For the record, I'd just gotten to the final dungeon of that game not that long ago and now any attempt to launch it boots me back to home... if I wanna finish that game, I gotta buy it on Switch or something and start it all over. And that holds true for almost everything I bought on Oculus Go/GearVR. Very, very few games work now, even though I'm testing out mostly offline games.

Even if we were to accept the premise of "It was a stepping stone, thank you for being involved" I don't think you truly understand that this is not without impact on newer hardware. Even it I were to just get over it and move on... what's to say my Meta Quest 3 won't meet the same fate in six years?

This underlying system here... that holds our digital content hostage to an entitlement check doesn't just mean Oculus Go is naturally phasing out due to antiquation, it also means that we cannot trust any dollar we spend on Meta Quest 3 content... and anyone who tried to use their Meta Quest, Quest 2, Quest Pro or Quest 3 early March 5th got a taste of that when the outage happened. That outage showed us exactly what kind of cutoff we're looking forward to if the underlying Meta framework continues to be put together on system of checks as it is now.

What really needs to happen here is Meta going back to fix this so that anyone who has an Oculus Go can continue using what they paid for as long as the devices power on. We all understand that some online connected services may not work... we might not see our leaderboards populate as time goes on, and I'm willing to bet everyone else here is okay with that so long as the threat to our core offline apps/games vanishes.

...and you 100% absolutely should shoot this as high up the chain as needed and take an interest in fixing this so that the whole system of entitlement checks never ever again leaves us unable to use offline content we paid for.

Make our paid content usable again. That is the only acceptable solution.

[sheilat]

I have 2 Go headsets, and it seems that the one I was logged into is the one with entitlement checks on all but 5 apps. I decided to check the other headset, it is connected to the wifi but I am not logged into it on the meta app. Every app on that headset works. I have the game bait on both headsets, on the headset I was logged into on the meta app I can no longer play that game, but on the other headset it works just fine. There are a few games like that on both headsets. I tried logging out of the meta app on the entitlement headset, but the games still don't work. Makes me wish I had been logged out on both headsets because the one that has entitlement check is my favorite one with most of the games I play.

[Jacobs]

I'm having the same problem. Most everything is broken on Go now. I'm receiving Entitlement failure errors.

[Kyndig]

Well, at least now we all know that the price of games in the Oculus store is for a license to play for a period of time that will be determined by Oculus and never disclosed. Every game we purchased on this platform is now money you owe to your customers. It's a shame we'll need to bring a class action suit to recover the money owed to us. At least you've shown your hand. I'll never waste money in your oculus store again. What a giant waste of money between myself and all the other customers. Astonishing you as a company disregard the issue of the funds owed. Anyways, I guess you eventually will hear from the lawyer that starts the class action.