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[Briarios]

This has been a very interesting topic.

I honestly don't see how anyone can spin this as a win for Sony. Not even by a long shot.

For one, it takes Oculus out of the console race equation. And, for another, there are a LOT of developers that don't want to work with facebook, so, they'll choose Morpheus as their focus for development. There are a bunch of other reasons, too.

 

[LoveCake]

Never going to help a kickstarter again

A lot of people are going to feel this way.

 

[Bookoo]

[/IMG]

I guess posts like that is why people think Kickstarter is an investing platform instead of a donation platform. People kick started the Dev Kit 1 and they were shipped.

I don't see people complaining that they aren't receiving DK2 and CV1 free of charge.

 

[thunder_snail]

That was inevitable anyway - what does this announcement have to do with it?

It quickens it.

 

[GrayDock]

The only "short" term upside that I can think off is that it will be easier to convince my girlfriend that buying a OR will be usefull to her too

But seriously, now they are in the same capital ballpark as Sony, although the kickstarters must kind of pissed for the company to lose it's independent status....

 

[mercenar1e]

that's a concrete possibility

Oculus jumped ship the moment Sony revealed the VR headset and the possibilities of Microsoft and Valve to follow.

 

[CrAzY FiNgErS]

I wonder what John Carmack thinks about all of this? Has he made any statements? Also, Valve I wonder if they were blindsided too. I sure am curious.

Perhaps if OR goes south Valve will release their VR tech for multiple third parties to adopt. Similar to how they are doing Steam Machines and their controller which they also said would have third party versions.

 

[Opt1kon_]

wow.... this is just wow

 

[antipode]

I can't help but feel that the good reception to Sony at GDC helped push Oculus' investors towards this deal. Apparently they weren't interested in FB's $1.5B offer 3 months ago. Sony wasn't in the running, just Google and FB.

http://recode.net/2014/03/25/in-googles-shadow-facebooks-zuckerberg-pursued-oculus-over-several-months-ending-in-weekend-marathon-of-dealmaking/

Sources close to the situation said that Facebook’s initial offer to the Irvine, Calif.-based Oculus came about three months ago at about a $1.5 billion valuation. In fact, in early February, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe left the DICE gaming conference in Las Vegas to do a personal demo of the device for Zuckerberg.

At the time, Oculus investors — including Andreessen Horowitz, Spark and Matrix Partners — had not wanted the two-year-old company to sell, considering it to be at the forefront of a new platform for consumers.

For this, Oculus had attracted a lot of interest from the media and other tech giants. Google, famous for picking up esoteric device companies, had also apparently seriously sniffed around, although sources said Facebook was the main suitor here. Other obvious buyers — Apple, Amazon, Microsoft and Sony, which has its own Project Morpheus in the arena — were not in the mix.

 

[Betta Lines]

It quickens it.

Why?

 

[TetraGenesis]

Shut. The. Fuck. Up.

 

[Stumpokapow]

(posted this in the Steam thread but more general audience here)

I think it's a great buy for a Facebook and a great sell for Oculus and I'm not sure why people are upset here. For reference, I have a Facebook account but don't post anything or use Facebook.

Oculus has great tech but no feasible way to scale up manufacturing to hit a mass audience. As other companies get into VR, they'll be at a competitive disadvantage because of that. Facebook capitalizes them extremely well so manufacturing will no longer be an issue for them. Problem solved. There's no reason to believe that Facebook won't allow them continued autonomy, and I assume part of the discussions for the deal involved Facebook actually committing to the gaming side of the market.

Meanwhile, Facebook is a mature company. Just like Microsoft missed the bulk of the wave of internet, search, and social startup success, Facebook generally whiffed mobile. They've made up for lost time with aggressive investment, hiring, and buyouts, but they're still not quite there. It makes sense for them to look to post-mobile technologies. Wearable is one, but no one is doing anything that seems like you could build a business around it or services on top of it. VR could be a future platform. Maybe, maybe not. $2 billion is a pretty small bet, and if the gaming side of Oculus is breakeven or cost recovery in the meantime, it gives Facebook room for growing in the future if VR is the next platform.

So, then the question is, what besides gaming could Oculus do for Facebook? Well, lots of stuff comes to mind. Someone records a video and puts it on Facebook; once camera tech allows for 3d videos or newer formats, Oculus could be a great way to put yourself in the memories other are sharing. Commercial video and especially sports content could be another application (like the stuff Nintendo has sort of in a very amateur way done with the AR/VR travel video stuff they have on Wii U, poorly executed). Facebook has flirted a bit with directly selling content but they're not quite there, but it's an option. Facebook also wants to have more investment in chatting tech; Facebook Messenger has been a very very powerful asset for them, missing out on Snapchat was painful, and WhatsApp is a big strategy for them. Oculus enabled VR video chats in 3d space could be a communication option.

I basically, thus, view this as pretty much an ideal acquisition. Cheap and simple for Facebook that gives them a stake in a possible future so they don't end up missing a big money wave. One of the more independence-granting options for Oculus, and acquisition or massive VC investment would have been the only ways they would have capitalized them well enough to get into consumer manufacturing. Win-win.

 

[Mindwipe]

Because they're passionate about what they do and wouldn't sign away everything they've worked for if they weren't confident of being able to continue what they want to do?

Confidence doesn't matter shit. If your company is owned by someone else, they make the decisions. Unless it's in writing it doesn't count, and much like WhatsApp's hollow claims that it has a "culture" of privacy that oddly doesn't involve anything contractual that would actually stop Facebook hoovering up the data at any point they want.

They didn't pay $2,000,000,000 if they didn't think this tech was gonna be a huge deal.

They didn't pay $2 billion for an open platform that didn't lock people into an ecosystem and provide revenue opportunities.

 

[upandaway]

well yeah that's part of the plan i was talking about.. IN the end they have the best tech to sell those virtual medias to people.

My point was more that that's a lot of money. I mean, man, that's a lot of money for things to only go that far. It's a lot of money.

 

[zhorkat]

It's two different market. Look at Wii, we know what kind of games 3rd parties did put on it.
Publishers will look at the demographics and cater to that exclusively.
I don't know the internals of OR, but can it work without a PC with a decent graphic card?
Will Facebook sell it with a gamepad? A lot of casuals use a laptop and don't even use a mouse anymore. So OR for real games is pretty much over.

The Oculus Rift is more comparable to a TV than to a games console. The Oculus Rift DK2 is 1080p and goes up to 75 Hz. If Facebook decided to cut those specs down to something like 720p and 60Hz, that would hurt not only the high-end PC gaming experience, but every VR experience, in which case it becomes not a question of market focus, but how bad of an experience is Facebook willing to sell to people.

 

[Septimius]

Cross-posting this from the OT thread:

There seems to be a lot of misconceptions about what a business acquisition is going on here. I'm assuming when it says that Facebook is acquiring Oculus, it means Facebook will be holding a majority share of Oculus. When you say "oh, wow, they're rich now, good job", you don't really get what this is about. Why would the bleeding VR hearts and the guys with proper passion for VR sell their share now, and go "oh, fuck you all, I have money now!" and drop their life-long vision of creating VR?

Very little is said on how this acquisition will take place. If it's a complete take-over, I'd be really surprised. It would mean that the share of Oculus people owned would be converted to Facebook stocks. Thinking that Facebook has anywhere near as huge of an upside as Oculus does is ludicrous. However, the upside is part of the evaluation. The evaluation is fucking enormous, so I guess Oculus sees this as perhaps not the complete upside, but also exactly what the company needs to reach that upside. But, this is not Facebook buying out the people that are working there. This is a huge resource infusion for the company. The 2 billion dollars does not go to the stakeholders in more than exactly what is was before, as a part of the company. If you wish to sell your part of your company, that's your prerogative, but you don't get to keep your part and get money at the same time. The resources then go into the company, and will now give Oculus probably 50 times more resources to fiddle with. They will be able to move into a proper production facility, drive the costs down by a huge amount, and get more people the consumer version a lot faster. We won't have to sit around for months waiting for our kits to arrive, like we did with DK1 and now DK2.

This is a huge opportunity for Oculus. They can essentially focus on exactly what they wish their vision to be, and not have to struggle to make ends meet. Facebook will likely push to get a big, new team going to push for social media advances with VR. Perhaps some new interactive VR world? I don't know what Zuckerberg envisions. But the core team can do whatever they want. Facebook knows that they can't just come in and shift the focus of the existing team. However, they're free to put a new team next to that that works on utilizing the VR. That has nothing to do with building the tech, which will remain its own team, which will continue doing exactly what it does, only more effectively. Especially and at least in terms of production. The amount of R&D they're at liberty to do, now, the ways they can make the unit more affordable to the consumer. All of this is a huge advent of VR. This will push what you're all oozing in your pants to get your hands on; a proper, integrated VR experience with all the haptic feedback and stuff you've only dreamed would one day be a part of this.

And now that Facebook enables that, you all go "preorder cancelled"? That's not what's going on.

Quoting myself to share the message.

 

[Mass Effect]

Welp, at least we still have Sony and Valve.

 

[Deadstar]

What stage of grief are we on right now? Denial?

 

[kick51]

We'll know what's up based on what happens with Carmack over the next year. If he stays at Oculus, its all good. If he leaves then the dream is truly dead.

Yeah, just like Instagram right? Mark has made it clear that he doesn't just come in and fuck shit up. He bought them, but they aren't disbanding. He's not taking over every last little detail. This can only help Oculus.

 

[Tobor]

my fear is that zuck appears to be clueless to how VR works, trying to pitch sporting events as a possible use case.

It's an entirely possible use case. Not today, but in 5 or 10 years, once the tech has matured, the sky is the limit.

 

[syko de4d]

A simpson joke will become reality

 

[Fallout-NL]

not like this

 

[x3r0123]

i have no idea what's going on today with all these news

 

[AHA-Lambda]

NO BLOODY WAY!! D:

 

[KoopaTheCasual]

Facebook wants VR to be a consumer-wide accessible product. That is great for the future of VR as a medium that matters but I personally cannot fathom how that vision can fit within the confines of the original OR vision [Hardware-wise].

The average consumer isn't going to have a powerful computer to push VR hardware to appropriate levels so I have no idea how you go about making a VR product that is accessible to consumers at a widespread level unless you limit your scope. Not to mention that the cost of the hardware would also be an important aspect considering what your average consumer is likely willing to spend on what many would view as a peripheral

I hope Oculus can maintain their initial vision and deliver the product that gamers have come to expect but I think there are plenty of logical reasons to worry about the future of OR from a PC gaming perspective



You realize facebook is a service not a product right? And that monetization occurs mostly through ads? Thus by your logic we should expect free to low cost hardware and heavy ads? Or what?

Agree to all of this.

This move means VR is pretty much going to hit mainstream, and that's great for VR as a whole, but focus is definitely shifting from gaming. Don't quite know how I feel about that until I experience other VR media types.

Also you raise a really troubling point. People don't normally have PCs spec'd for this. And you're crazy if you think FB is throwing $2 billion at OR with all the resources, and not expecting a return somewhere down the line. FB sees VR as the future, but at what point in the future will the common soccer mom/dad have a powerful enough PC for a compelling VR experience?

Some ridiculous advancements need to be made on eye tracking technology.

 

[Vargavinter]

Im sad. ;(

 

[VisceralBowl]

Oculus jumped ship the moment Sony revealed the VR headset and the possibilities of Microsoft and Valve to follow.

Didn't Valve basically give them the tech they had been working on?

 

[Karsticles]

Palmer just posted this on reddit:



People should calm down.

This gets said every time an acquisition takes place, and it is never, ever true.

 

[Shosai]

Uh no. It didn't start taking off "mainstream" until at most the xbox days.

Even so it's still looked down upon by many.

What year did video game revenues hit $18.5 billion, surpassing the annual gross revenues of the recording industry and Hollywood, combined? HINT:

Spoiler

1982

Agree to all of this.

This move means VR is pretty much going to hit mainstream, and that's great for VR as a whole, but focus is definitely shifting from gaming. Don't quite know how I feel about that until I experience other VR media types.

Also you raise a really troubling point. People don't normally have PCs spec'd for this. And you're crazy if you think FB is throwing $2 billion at OR with all the resources, and not expecting a return somewhere down the line. FB sees VR as the future, but at what point in the future will the common soccer mom/dad have a powerful enough PC for a compelling VR experience?

Some ridiculous advancements need to be made on eye tracking technology.

The average PC will be powerful enough in 3 years, give or take.

But you'll have to tell me, how does opening the Occulus API to non-gaming applications come at the expense of gaming applications?

 

[Vampirolol]

I think that some people are just afraid to take Facebook part in the next console war.

 

[Totobeni]

I'd much rather buy EA's clone VR device than Facebook's.

both are bad companies I avoid as much as possible.

when Rift announced I was hoping Nvidia will make a 3D Vision VR device but they never did.

 

[Ocaso]

The people that backed it got what they were promised. Im happy for the oculus guys, if someone offered me 2 billion id take it. Some of you guys that are pissed in worry of it hurting the product i understand that. But the guys that are mad they made a shit ton of money seem jelly.

You know, I agree. Good for Palmer and Co that they're now stupidly rich. He made the product out of a passion, he wanted it to be so good that he caught the attention of a big name (Carmack in this case), and the snowball rolled on the backs of hard work and smart decisions. The boys deserved success, and though we'd hoped they'd find it independently, I can't blame them for taking the money. I probably would have in their shoes as well.

 

[Mindwipe]

There's no reason to believe that Facebook won't allow them continued autonomy,

Apart from, y'know, the remotest bit of common sense.

 

[thunder_snail]

Why?

Do you really have to ask?
Before this announcement, there was really no reason to hack Morpheus to work well on PC.
Now there is.

 

[evilromero]

How many companies have tried to bull their way into the video game market and failed? I'm curious how FB, and if the rumors are true Amazon, plan to squeeze in.

 

[LyleLanley]

my fear is that zuck appears to be clueless to how VR works, trying to pitch sporting events as a possible use case.

I think that could actually be a really cool idea if done right.

 

[GamerJM]

To people who don't think this is necessarily a bad thing, you're not wrong.....this isn't necessarily a bad thing, but there's little evidence that supports that it won't be.

Worst case scenario Facebook makes the Oculus Rift a locked platform, only uses it for shitty Facebook games or no games at all, proceeds to continue world domination plan
Best case scenario: Facebook makes the Oculus Rift as open of a platform as it was going to be before, helps out development of the device a tremendous amount, with more developers and gamers alike hoping aboard the platform......but we still have to live with some level of Facebook integration and/or the fear that Facebook is "watching" us.

 

[orioto]

For one, it takes Oculus out of the console race equation. And, for another, there are a LOT of developers that don't want to work with facebook, so, they'll choose Morpheus as their focus for development. There are a bunch of other reasons, too.

This is bs, cause that oculus/morpheus rivalry was just a dumb fanboy desire to begin with and actually, it's in the best interest for vr devs, as it was said by both companies, to have a pc and a console market to make profit of their games.

 

[Tobor]

(posted this in the Steam thread but more general audience here)

I think it's a great buy for a Facebook and a great sell for Oculus and I'm not sure why people are upset here. For reference, I have a Facebook account but don't post anything or use Facebook.

Oculus has great tech but no feasible way to scale up manufacturing to hit a mass audience. As other companies get into VR, they'll be at a competitive disadvantage because of that. Facebook capitalizes them extremely well so manufacturing will no longer be an issue for them. Problem solved. There's no reason to believe that Facebook won't allow them continued autonomy, and I assume part of the discussions for the deal involved Facebook actually committing to the gaming side of the market.

Meanwhile, Facebook is a mature company. Just like Microsoft missed the bulk of the wave of internet, search, and social startup success, Facebook generally whiffed mobile. They've made up for lost time with aggressive investment, hiring, and buyouts, but they're still not quite there. It makes sense for them to look to post-mobile technologies. Wearable is one, but no one is doing anything that seems like you could build a business around it or services on top of it. VR could be a future platform. Maybe, maybe not. $2 billion is a pretty small bet, and if the gaming side of Oculus is breakeven or cost recovery in the meantime, it gives Facebook room for growing in the future if VR is the next platform.

So, then the question is, what besides gaming could Oculus do for Facebook? Well, lots of stuff comes to mind. Someone records a video and puts it on Facebook; once camera tech allows for 3d videos or newer formats, Oculus could be a great way to put yourself in the memories other are sharing. Commercial video and especially sports content could be another application (like the stuff Nintendo has sort of in a very amateur way done with the AR/VR travel video stuff they have on Wii U, poorly executed). Facebook has flirted a bit with directly selling content but they're not quite there, but it's an option. Facebook also wants to have more investment in chatting tech; Facebook Messenger has been a very very powerful asset for them, missing out on Snapchat was painful, and WhatsApp is a big strategy for them. Oculus enabled VR video chats in 3d space could be a communication option.

I basically, thus, view this as pretty much an ideal acquisition. Cheap and simple for Facebook that gives them a stake in a possible future so they don't end up missing a big money wave. One of the more independence-granting options for Oculus, and acquisition or massive VC investment would have been the only ways they would have capitalized them well enough to get into consumer manufacturing. Win-win.

I agree completely. This was a smart move by all concerned.

 

[low-G]

I think that could actually be a really cool idea if done right.

So how are we doing the 360 degree roving stereoscopic cameras again, or is this just fixed to a single spot and really lame?

 

[mattiewheels]

 

[Hoo-doo]

I think this is the most important part that OR said on their blog.

They aren't changing their personal vision, they are just working with a wallet that's thousands of times larger then the one they had yesterday.

This is such a child-like ignorance, come on. They got bought.

They are not going to be chasing the relatively tiny PC-gaming crowd with Facebook behind the wheel.

 

[ffdgh]

This came out of nowhere...

 

[Betta Lines]

Do you really have to ask?
Before this announcement, there was really no reason to hack Morpheus to work well on PC.
Now there is.

So you are assuming that because someone has bought Oculus, their product will no longer work well on PC?

 

[Briarios]

This would be comparable if Facebook already did VR, like EA already did games. FB doesn't know VR, and can't say anything about it. They're not where they are today by thinking they can steamroll companies that are doing something great. This is basic business. Facebook believes this is the future, and they want to be in on it. If they buy this, then steamroll the operations, it would go as people predict. Luckily, Facebook doesn't even begin to think they know what to do with a VR company, which is why they'll be left able to do what they do, because it is proven that what they do is amazing and gains more and more traction for every day.

You're putting on rose colored glasses and ignoring how corporate culture works. Oculus isn't in the drivers seat anymore. Facebook is far more massive. Even if the current intent of the creators is one thing, that's not how it's going to end up. FB is a public company - it gets driven by shareholders. Profit is the only motive for Oculus now. There is no other purpose for publicly traded companies other than to maximize shareholder earnings.

 

[Mrbob]

I wonder how Valve feels right now. They were the ones helping push VR tech for Oculus. Oculus takes that help and uses it as a tool to sell out to Facebook.

Curious to see if this partnership continues anymore.

 

[gcubed]

It's an entirely possible use case. Not today, but in 5 or 10 years, once the tech has matured, the sky is the limit.

I guess if you have a 360 camera feed, that would be the only way to account for you actually moving your head

 

[injurai]

What stage of grief are we on right now? Denial?

grief.exe

his name predestined the binaries that on this day course through all gaming machines.

 

[TCRS]

A simpson joke will become reality

lolol fucking simpson man

 

[AudioTechnica]

Man, facebook litterally scratching and clawing to buy every possible new user they can can get their hands on now. They must really be afraid for the future of the platform.