Facebook buys Oculus Rift

[matsif]

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2014/03 ... 2-billion/

welp, not getting it anymore. was thinking about it, not gonna get forced to log in to facebook whenever I want to play a game in VR.

[TCZapper]

Based off what I see at work (IBM), growing startups usually get a clause to prevent the parent company from interfering.

My guess? Facebook sees VR as the future of social media and hopes to build a better social media platform by getting close to Oculus.

As for Oculus, it's too early to tell, but I'd wager they'll be fairly independent, but try to use Facebook's resources to improve their product and reach a wider audience. At least for the near future.

My long term expectations are for the first consumer version to be good, but in 5-10 years as Oculus stops being independent, gamers will probably find a new company.

Overall, I wish it wasn't Facebook, but I doubt it will have negative implications for VR within the next few years. It might even help VR tech as a whole to reach a wider audience, leading to more incentive for other companies to develop their own VR.

Although I would be concerned over standardization. Don't want to see games only being compatible with some VR headsets.

[Calloutman]

It's not such a big deal. I'll also eat my metaphorical hat if they make you log into FB to use it.

I see it as a good thing, while Occulus had the current potential to enter the niche game market, with FB behind it we could see it being adopted into more AAA titles etc. Also expanding the occulus' reach out of just the games market is fantastic, I can't wait to watch some epic film (Avatar) in stereoscopic 3D VR, or VR video-calls etc, this could be awesome!

[matsif]

I don't trust the good things that could happen with facebook's capital to not be datamined for targeted advertising and such. The original idea behind the rift was to be a gaming peripheral, not a social media device. The first version may hold true, but I'd be willing to bet calloutman's metaphorical hat that it ceases to be more than an in home adaptation of google glass running facebook software by the 2nd major version. Zuckerburg wouldn't have bought it if someone (or himself) hadn't convinced him of a way to monetize it for facebook's purposes.

While it may bring VR into other home entertainment aspects in the end with a broader audience than just gaming, I just don't trust facebook as a company. I'd feel the same way if Microsoft or Apple or EA or Yahoo or [the list goes on] bought it.

[Nix]

Calm down Matsif, calm down.

[TCZapper]

With more time, and more reading of people's reaction, I'm still not sold that this purchase will mean negative design decisions in the near future. That said, I see two potentially big issues I didn't really consider before:

Consumer support is down. VR tech as a whole would benefit from a good VR device that achieves significant success, but with the backlash and mistrust in Facebook, I'm less optimistic of its success.

Developer's not being in interested in helping Facebook. Valve, Notch (Minecraft) and many other companies were interested in working with Oculus, but may be less interested now. Half of a successful VR is going to be the answer to "what can you do with it", and while Facebook may help it in terms of non-gaming uses, I don't think that is enough.

I also think it sucks from the perspective of a backer (which I am not). Invest in a prototype so they can go sell it, while many backers probably have neither a device, nor any monetary benefit from the sale.

[undrt0w]

Based off what I see at work (IBM), growing startups usually get a clause to prevent the parent company from interfering.

Hey, we were colleagues!! What do you do in IBM? I got the blue boot in December unfortunately

[Fields]

John Carmack works for facebook now. This weirds me out on so many levels.

[Chemical2]

Not too worried about this

[knorren]

Well, it's in the contract that Oculus VR will be independent even after he purchase, M Zuckerberg has agreed to that.

Also, the upcoming Oculus Rift-version of Minecraft is bye bye as of this moment.
Markus Persson, the creator of Minecraft, killed the deal when news about Facebook buying Oculus surfaced.

Oculus-Rift founder Palmer Luckey can at least be happy, he is now a multimillionaire!

[Jokerle]

If Mr Z grants them enough freedom, I think the vision of P Luckey might just accelerate and not be diluted my greedy marketing bullshit.

[Nix]

I love how everyone is freaking out over this acquisition. Internet, please don't change

http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/oculus-joins-facebook/
Take a look at the comments.
The irony, it hurts.