Facebook buys Oculus

[Sared]

From Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook Page

https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101319050523971

I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we're in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.

This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you're actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it's different from anything they've ever experienced in their lives.

Oculus's mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.

Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won't be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We're going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.

But this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face -- just by putting on goggles in your home.

This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.

These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.

Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.

Speculations. GO.

[Eroz]

Someone forgot to set the article post date to be April 1.

In reality, it Facebook showing signs that they know they aren't doing great as a social network, and that they need to diversify to survive as a company. Oculus is a company that is at the lead in a space that has few players right now. (Unlike something like WhatsApp.) But who knows if Facebook is going to force Oculus to do a lot to try and merge what Facebook knows now with Oculus is planning to do, or if Facebook will be hand off with Oculus and let them find their own space. Hopefully it will be the latter.

[Tbone]

I kind of feel like a friend has died. The overall reaction has been very negative, and people are declaring it the death of Oculus. I'm not happy, but it seems like a trade-off that could be seen in two ways.

The negative: Facebook. Obviously. Lots of people have privacy issues with Facebook. They're not a gaming company. Will Oculus be absorbed into the Facebook ecosystem? It's basically scaring away EVERY partner Oculus had up until now. Notch cancelled MinecraftVR and a bunch of indie devs are saying they are cancelling as well. It may be an over-reaction, but I think the biggest issue now is going to be CONTENT. That fire for innovation is going to be hard to recapture from the community in the immediate future.

Positive: The hardware. Palmer had this to say:

This deal is going to immediately accelerate a lot of plans that were languishing on our wishlist, and the resulting hardware will be better AND cheaper. We have the resources to create custom hardware now, not just rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. There is a lot of good news on the way that is not yet public, so believe me, things will become a lot more clear over time.

and

We have not gotten into all the details yet, but a lot of the news is coming. The key points:
1) We can make custom hardware, not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon.
2) We can afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects.
3) We can make huge investments in content. More news soon.

and

This deal specifically lets us greatly lower the price of the Rift.

So CV1's specs are going to be off the chart and probably not that expensive. Oculus has the deep pockets to make an incredible piece of hardware that has a better chance of helping VR succeed.

Result: Hardware will be BETTER. Software will be WORSE. It's a game for hearts and minds, now. No doubt Palmer Luckey sold his reputation on this one (even if he didn't have much say in the matter). It's the biggest thing Oculus had going for them. They were the underdogs who were doing the impossible. Now there's no trust. I'm hoping people will get over it fast and it doesn't affect things too much.

[Da6onet]

I personally think this is a death knell to the Oculus. Zuckerberg has money and no ideas. That's why Facebook has been gobbling up other companies early on, hoping to cash in on a gimmicky idea. I have no doubt that he plans to implement this VR technology in a too greedy too fast way that will essentially kill this iteration before it has a chance to go mainstream.

[Revalis]

Palmer has been fielding questions for a while, now...

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/21cy9n/the_future_of_vr/

But I think Notch addressed it more concisely.

http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-the-world/

[likwidtek]

Here are all his replies so far:

http://imgur.com/a/ftOpP

Tbone said it best.  I feel like my friend just died.

[Tbone]

This is from a few months ago. Kinda interesting in today's context:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NwG7OkREOQ#t=10m2s

[NoCry]

Actually I think it interesting. Some gamedevs will stop their plans. Facebook is too big a corporation to ignore and at least the competitors will focus more and more on this arena - which, for us as consumer, should be a good thing.

[likwidtek]

[likwidtek]

Pretty good article:  http://ti.me/1dt42e4 

Gives me a little hope.

[Akiya]

[likwidtek]

A Landmark Episode of This Is Only a Test - 3/27/2014

Start listening to the tested podcast at the 38 minute mark.  Having to do with the Oculus Facebook thing. 

I think these are some super very valid points.