Oculus co-founder Nate Mitchell has taken to Twitter to state that, “unfortunately,” hidden messages not meant for consumers found their way into the guts of Oculus Touch controllers.
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
As Mitchell states, the messages, which read “This Space For Rent,” and “The Masons Were Here,” (likely a reference to the Freemasons) on final production hardware, and “Big Brother is Watching You” and “Hi iFixit! We See You!” (a reference to online repair manual website iFixit) on some of the development kits sent out to developers, were not intentional. The messages can be found by opening up the controllers and checking the wiring.
https://twitter.com/natemitchell/status/1116757807682838528
“While I appreciate the easter [sic] eggs, these were inappropriate and should have been removed,” Mitchell stated. “The integrity and functionality of the hardware were not compromised, and we’ve fixed our process so this won’t happen again.”
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 so this won't happen again. [3/3]
— Nate Mitchell (@natemitchell) April 12, 2019
The messages were likely meant in jest for the people who were receiving them, since they were not meant to be seen by consumers. However, in the context of an average customer finding them while trying to fix an issue with a Touch controller, the messages might seem ominous and creepy, hence Mitchell’s regrets.
While in this case it was accidental, it’s not the first time a company has hidden a message inside the innards of a controller. The Switch Pro Controller contains a much friendlier message, for example.
[Source: Nate Mitchell on Twitter via Kotaku]