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[SniperHunter]

i guess facebook might look into a second life and home type experience with oculus implementation

 

[R&D]

Crowd funding isn't crowd investing.

Still feels bad.

So the KS backers are screwed? I mean when they backed up the project, they were supposed to have something in return right? Like a free headset if you invested 300$ or more? Is it contractual?

 

[jacksepticeye]

Oculus’ somewhat unpredictable future just became crystal clear: virtual reality is coming, and it’s going to change the way we play games forever.

Most importantly, it means a better Oculus Rift with fewer compromises even faster than we anticipated.

Don't know whether to be happy about this or not, what he's saying sounds great but I don't trust Facebook with this.

Not only that but will this affect the price in a negative way now?

 

[John Harker]

Facebook was the buzz word in gaming only two years ago... and that market has bottomed out so quickly to mobile, and with consoles adopting 'social' instead of driving to them for it, they must be in a panic to get the revenue stream back. So they succeede mobile right away, jump it, and go straight for the next big platform at the ground level - so now everyone will have to build to them, instead of on-top of (or away from) their platform.

kinda crazy and maybe brilliant at the same time.

 

[dave is ok]

Kickstarter. Angel investing for those who don't want their return

 

[Moonstone]

I guess Palmer is lucky.

 

[Buzzati]

So my $300 Kickstarter investment entitles me to a cut of this, right?

Anyway, this is kind of a bummer

Enjoy McDonalds(tm) 3D Ballpit with your device.

EDIT: GRRR ANGER

 

[charsace]

Um, because Project Morpheus looks way more appealing now?

Fucking Facebook is now in charge of Oculus Rift. FACEBOOK

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.

 

[-Horizon-]

I'm genuinely surprised, I'll just leave it that.

 

[okayfrog]

It's horrendous acts like this that make me glad to still be alive.

 

[Branduil]

Reddit comment made me laugh

"That boy was our last hope."

"No. There is another."

 

[orioto]

This and i'll say it again this makes no sense. Facebook works cause it's easy tu use everywhere. That doesn't work with VR before we have some kind of always on retina vr of the future..

 

[CassSept]

This was... unexpected. Wow. That's the weirdest acquisition in the market in the years, has got to be.

 

[aro52]

READ THIS YOU BASTARDS

from our dear leader palmer luckey


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

Translation:

 

[Fox_Mulder]

All kickstarters must have a slice of that delicious $2 billions cake

 

[BraXzy]

I don't really get the close minded comments of "But VR is so un-social". They will probably come up with ways to connect via VR.

And anyway, when Google started tinkering with self-driven cars, did people think "Holy shit, is it gonna search itself there?"

 

[Dog Problems]

I'm not all "doom and gloom" about this announcement but I'm not exactly optimistic about it either. But I am glad I decided to hold off on ordering the second development kit. Just have to wait and see how it plays out and hope for the best.

 

[Phades]

Wow....

Why does it feel like a sucker punch? Facebook?!?

you mean a donkey punch.

In the back of my head i keep hearing some hick shout "squeel like a pig".

><;

 

[Reallink]

For 2 bil, Oculus must own some key patents and fb will sue competitors into the ground. Morpheus canceled.

 

[injurai]

...Oh god. At least it's not Apple.

 

[Salsa]

so come 2015 I get to choose between a giant megacorporation knee deep in nefarious exploitative practices to bring me a full fat VR experience and a second giant megacorporation knee deep in debt whose VR solution will anchor me to their underpowered proprietary crap box.

Valve's deep in this stuff and the only reason they werent in the game is because Oculus had already done it right

 

[JNT]

What if all the Kickstarter backers had actually, you know... bought Oculus stock?

 

[Lasthope106]

LOL at the over reaction of people on this board. So ridiculous.

Oculus will now be able to release the Rift faster, with better quality and potentially at a better price to reach mass consumption. This wil have no impact on the gaming side as the drivers will still be released to handle games and whatever else Facebook has in store.

If anything this puts Sony in a bad position as the rift will be a mainstream product that everyone will be aware of and potentially buy compared to Sony's niche gaming market.

Agree 100% with you. So much that first thing I'm doing tomorrow is buying Facebook stock. They made a great move for once with their acquisitions.

 

[Withnail]

I can't say I'm a fan of Facebook but OR now has virtually unlimited resources and access to an incredible talent pool.

Be excited.

 

[Suzzopher]

Just in what way can Facebook support Oculus? Do you happen to believe that the kind of people who care about facebook will care about some VR bs?

You realise they are a huge company right? That they will be able to fund Oculus in ways they only dreamed of? The blueprint for Oculus remains, they just have big pile of cash to give us the Oculus they really want to make.

 

[fasTRapid]

Actually, I think I'm more mad that they only paid 2 billion for Oculus VR when they bought a shitty app for 19 billion earlier this year.

This makes it even funnier. I wanted to go to sleep now but all of a sudden I read it on twitter and now I've been laughing for almost half an hour! This is surreal.

 

[LordBaztion]

what happens now with kickstarter supporters?

 

[Mushroomer25]

Extremely interesting... I honestly believe Facebook isn't going to interfere with the gaming side of Oculus in any significant manner, other than a new, limitless source of capital. That's good. That's going to help get this thing on store shelves sooner than otherwise, and instill developer confidence as Sony & Microsoft push forward with competitors. In fact, I feel better about Oculus being picked up by somebody who doesn't already have a vested interest in hardware. If Amazon or Google picked them up, I guarantee it'd negatively impact the open-source nature of the equipment (as those companies would push to make the hardware a vested, proprietary part of their gaming future).

Comparitively, Facebook has no interest in gaming. Ironically enough, this makes them the best candidate for the present. But what this does change, is how VR is going to be implemented in non-gaming situations. Getting the Rift out the door as a gaming peripheral is the first step. That introduces the concept to a wide audience. But using that concept for larger social initiatives is a much bigger payday. Once the Rift is out, expect Oculus to move away from the gaming market. Licencing of the tech will be the fastest step forward in developing new headsets. That team is going to be tossed, full force, into non-gaming applications.

 

[jax]

...Oh god. At least it's not Apple.

At least Apple knows jack shit about hardware

 

[Thorakai]

I don't know why there is such a strong negative reaction. Now VR has a chance of branching out much farther than gaming. The thing was going to be niche as fuck even with Sony backing their own version of VR. Now we can start imagining the possible applications Facebook have in mind with this product.

 

[repeater]

Hirai: (laughs)

 

[ThomasGlen]

(866) 751-3284. I'm listening to Mark Z read a statement. Says Oculus will still do the game thing.

 

[Joe_Incognito]

Definitely good news for the developer. That's a lot of muscle to have behind your product.

Watch Facebook pair this thing with Google and Amazon consoles.

 

[Hazaro]

so come 2015 I get to choose between a giant megacorporation knee deep in nefarious exploitative practices to bring me a full fat VR experience and a second giant megacorporation knee deep in debt whose VR solution will anchor me to their underpowered proprietary crap box.

Closed and consumer focused (Bye bye enthusiast perks, but hey it's cheap)
vs
PS4 limited

Great. I guess we have to wait for nVidia to step in with a 120/144Hz 1440p VR headset now for $999.

You know whats even worse, Facebook logo on your rift.

The true worst result.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

They got scared of Sony's announcement.

Looks like it. They probably wanted more funding to help deliver Oculus at a comparable level.

 

[Jack cw]

You know whats even worse, Facebook logo on your rift.

The worst is if they call it the social rift or friendlist rift. I still can't believe that this tech is now at Zuckerbergs hands.

 

[sub_o]

Wait Amazon buys into games, Facebook buys Oculus.... What the hell is happening?

Casual games is still a big market. Look at Angry Birds, Clash of Clans, Candy Crush. Amazon and Facebook are looking at those. They are not looking at Luftrausers, or Oddworld, or the next Platinum's game.

 

[Strike]

 

[soontroll]

 

[stufte]

Wow, this thread is like KNEEJERK APOCALYPSE.

Indeed. This reminds me of how utterly dismissive people were when Microsoft and Bill Gates announced that they were getting into the console market.

 

[Maintenance]

Hahaha, oh, wow. Man, I would be furious if I backed this. Now I'm not gonna touch this thing with a 10 ft pole.

Spoiler

Not because of Oculus, mind you.

 

[TalonJH]

or Sony.

I'd be alright with that.

 

[NemesisPrime]

PC gaming just got f*****.

 

[Lettuce]

Shame Nintendo didnt stump up the cash!

 

[Lunar15]

Yeah what about the kickstarter backers? They give money to this project to get it going, then the makers of the product just sell it to someone else for 2,000,000,000 and laugh their way to the bank while the kickstarters now have 0 say in what is going on from now on?

Man ...

That is pretty low. I dunno. New territory.

It's pretty clear that kickstarting is a donation, not an investment. Keep in mind, Occulus VR raised $91 Million in capital, only 2.4 Million of which was actually through Kickstarter.

 

[mrklaw]

haha just saw this after I posted comment. EXACTLY what I thought too lol

If you're meeting your friends in VR, at least you might be making virtual eye contact, rather than sitting with friends at a table, each individually eating lunch ignoring each other, face down in a mobile phone on Facebook to other friends.

 

[vagabondarts]

That the only logical answer.

Spoiler

I'm not serious

Me either haha

 

[George Claw M.D.]

Now this is a true megaton. That's how you megaton, people! So, this makes previous OR venture capital look like chump change. In fact, I went back to read OR's press release about their previous investment funding.

http://www.oculusvr.com/press/oculu...to-make-virtual-reality-a-commercial-reality/

IRVINE, CALIFORNIA (Dec 13, 2013) – Oculus VR, Inc., creators of the highly anticipated Oculus Rift, announced today that it has raised $75 million in Series B funding to finalize development of its virtual reality platform and ecosystem. Andreessen Horowitz led the round, which also included significant additional investment from the Series A investors Spark Capital, Matrix Partners and Formation 8.

Founded in 2009 by angel investors Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, Andreessen Horowitz is world renowned for supporting the growth of emerging technology companies that change the world, including Facebook, Airbnb, Jawbone, Twitter and Skype. As part of the round, Marc Andreessen and Chris Dixon will join Oculus VR’s board of directors...

Was this the end game since that earlier funding?

 

[PanicFreak]

Yeah what about the kickstarter backers? They give money to this project to get it going, then the makers of the product just sell it to someone else for 2,000,000,000 and laugh their way to the bank while the kickstarters now have 0 say in what is going on from now on?

Man ...

That is pretty low. I dunno. New territory.

That's why Kickstarter sucks. These guys get 2 billion and all you get is a soon to be outdated version of their product.

 

[TrueGrime]

"Acquisition positions Facebook to accelerate Oculus' growth in gaming, communications and new social experiences."

Fuuuuuuck. Why, Facebook. WHY.