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Facebook has acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion US Dollars

M

mclem

Member
EmptySpace said:
boom
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.
Click to expand...
Click to expand...

But Oculus Rift is just the headset. What they're talking about here amounts to live 3D interactive captures of an environment. That's completely independent from the tool used to display it.

What they're talking about is fantastic, and very very exciting, and not what Oculus Rift is.
 
D

Dijon

Neo Member
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...
wanting big tech to make the real world like something out of cyberpunk novels is actually not a good thing
 
T

Tapiozona

Banned
inky said:
Every positive you outline there comes with a negative attached that you are just simply willingly ignoring. "Infinite budget" comes with "infinite" strings attached that may actually sway the vision to serve Facebook's need first instead. They didn't pay that amount of money to just let them be.

More developers also means more people flocking to a new bubble, exploiting from all angles possible while dwarfing the original vision which might stifle the most promising, friendlier and innovative options because that is how big business works: they copy, they standardize, and aggressively push out smaller competitors.

Facebook attachment means a bigger userbase, yes. It also means Facebook's way of doing business (which is entirely around collecting personal data and selling ads) will be the driving force behind the syste,

Sorry, but no. This is probably good short term news for getting it out the door. It is terrible news for anyone who has been following the tech side of Oculus VR and their primary focus.

Highlighting the text in red doesn't suddenly make it true
Click to expand...

Does this apply to Google and their purchase of Android as well? Google's primary source of doing business was ads via search engine. With Android they stepped beyond their primary business role to new ones. Why is the idea of facebook doing the same any different?
 
C

chrominance

Member
TalonJH said:
I would say, they don't really get Oculus or how FB will use it.
Click to expand...

Why should they care? No one's saying the Oculus acquisition was bad for Facebook's bottom line, and that's all shareholders care about. Any issues with "oh no Oculus is ruined for the gaming community" or whatnot are purely our own, not anyone who has a financial stake in Facebook.

Unless Notch is just the tip of the iceberg and a massive revolt in favour of Morpheus somehow results. Which I doubt.
 
O

OminoMichelin

Member
I litterally learned about it just now through a kotaku article on fb. I hoped it was a joke for a few seconds, then reality set in.
Fuck everything.
 
GetemMa

GetemMa

Member
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...

Yes I'm sure FB will gladly let their 2 Billion dollar Oculus onto non FB games.

Facebook will be the platform you get to use your Oculus games on, not Steam.

And no, they won't sell it for $100 just because they are rich.

The delusion is strong with this one.
 
H

Harp

Member
Coreda said:
Nice, sensible post. This thread will still be bewildered that it's Facebook buying the company though.

We haven't seen what will happen yet, so at this point it's still '[insert worst nightmare here]' reaction time.
Click to expand...
Companies invest so they can get a return. They are not spending 2 billion to sell cheap.
 
E

eyeball_kid

Member
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...


Do you actually think Facebook will sell Oculus Rift as a generic peripheral for PC games? This thing will be locked up tight to Facebook games and product areas where they can advertise to you. And just because Facebook promotes it doesn't mean it will be successful. See: the Facebook Phone.

And Facebook selling hardware at a loss?? They have money, but not MS/Apple money. About $11B in cash right now. Well, less after this purchase.
 
Jex

Jex

Member
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...
A lot of your positives are purely speculative and overly rosy. Selling the hardware at a massive loss - what fantasy land is this?

What can we actually say about Facebook, for certain?

They're a company that's core business model is to collect information about you and work with advertisers to serve you adverts based on that information. That's literally what they're all about. It would be extremely naive to think that this won't negatively impact (in terms of 'pure gamer focs) the direction that the Occulus Right is going in. The fact that you don't list this as a negative is pretty mind-boggling.

Now, it's certainly true that Facebook could, and presumably is, interested in doing a whole lot more than showing you adverts but their focus is, almost b ythe definition of who they are, going to be focused on appealing to hundred of millions of people, not hardcore gamers.
 
T

TopGun

Banned
GODDAMN.

Of ALL companies to do this. Let's all jump on the Morpheus hype train now?
2s54lZN.png
 
McHuj

McHuj

Member
SalsaShark said:
I wish I was naive enough to reach this level of ridiculous optimism
Click to expand...

I think it's good in a sense that a company like Facebook can make VR more main stream. They have a lot more appeal to the casual crowd than any gamer.

It's bad for core PC gamers and probably tiny developers. But if Facebook can drive the acceptance of VR, it will be easier for another company (maybe even another start up) to try it as well. Maybe Valve will step in now.
 
P

pa22word

Member
El Idiota said:
Thank you for making that list. Hopefully this will cool down people a bit. We can still complain and lose our shit when things change for the worse.
Click to expand...

That list reads like something my 10 year old self would write circa 1992 when EA bought out Origin Systems.
 
C

ChiliManiac

Banned
The only reason I can think facebook would do this is so they can have a Google glass like device and do everything that Google isn't allowing. Such as advertising lol.

Carmack...now works for facebook just happened.

So, I'm glad that I didn't kickstart this...but isn't this kind of stabbing those people in the back?
 
T

TalonJH

Member
Philly40 said:
Is this deal $2 Billion cash or $2 Billion in Facebook shares?


I remember Yahoo bought Geocities for about $4 billion in shares back in the late 1990's - how well did that turn out for both of them?
Click to expand...
When you first said shares, my mind went immediately to social media "shares".
 
M

Mushroomer25

Member
Nibel said:
The problem is that you think like a gamer would think - I am not sure how much Facebook cares about any of the points you've mentioned
Click to expand...

Facebook cares about getting this tech out the door. Right now, Oculus has developed a strong brand identity with the gaming audience - so that's where they're going to appeal right now. Once they're in a lot of homes in America, the time will come for broader adoption.

Nothing about Oculus is going to change YET. But I assure you, the Oculus that we'll have 5 years from now will be a far different beast from the one we would've had sans-acquisition. (Were that possible).
 
G

gundamkyoukai

Member
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...

Your living in a dream land if you think FB would sell anything at a lost .
Getting people to sigh up for something free is not the same as getting people to spend money on hardware .
 
D

Dr.Acula

Banned
DieH@rd said:
I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined patch toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.
Click to expand...

I made some comments in the OT side, and I'll repost them here.


As a start-up, Oculus was cultivating indies, and providing very cheap tools and apis for developers to ensure OR compatibility. FB could now view licensing as a primary revenue stream, and might want to avoid "diluting the brand" with non-AAA games (read, ports galore).

This could be good if FB is willing to go hard enough into a new market that they'd let OR go to retail at a loss.

Remember OR was having trouble getting the high res screens they wanted.

300 dollar 1440p OR? That would be good.

Or does FB mishandle and bungle this whole thing by either forcing it half-baked and early, by demanding a low price point and hardware at profit? Do they sit on this tech? Did they buy them for patents?

Is FB trying to go after the Google glass sphere?

How is FB's relationship with Samsung? Samsung makes all the high res low persistence screens. Does this help or harm OR's access to that hardware?
 
Honey Bunny

Honey Bunny

Member
charsace said:
This is Sony's worst nightmare. Facebook is a stronger brand name and have a lot of money to back OR which was already better than Sony's tech. I can't wait to see what the final version of OR will look like.
Click to expand...

Their worst nightmare? The industry was questioning the viability of VR just days ago at their unveiling, and now their only competition in this space has just been valued at 2 billion facebook dollars. This is validation of their efforts in a massive way.
 
S

spanna

Member
I'm not going to panic just yet but I am worried about how Facebook are going to make money from oculus.
It's also a shame to go from getting something relatively cool to getting something that feels embarrassing now.
 
S

Symphonic

Member
We're actually all sitting at home wearing our Valve Oculus Rift's and all of our seeing/reading this news is a simulation and we just forgot about the real world.

Right?
 
M

mercenar1e

Member
Durante said:
The only people who should be happy about this are Facebook investors. They just got their money invested in the smartest way possible.
Click to expand...


the product hasn't proven itself in the consumer market, Facebook's previous buyouts are in the same boat. i wouldn't be surprised if it took years for noticeable returns
 
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