smokeandmirrors
Banned
And you're doing the exact same thing.
And list the companies that don't involve any "NSA Taint".
Don't worry. I have time.
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Facebook has acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion US Dollars
- Thread starter ShogunDarius
- Start date
And you're doing the exact same thing.
And list the companies that don't involve any "NSA Taint".
Don't worry. I have time.
Holy shit this thread. Surprised GAF hasn't gone down.
Because people only see this news when they get on gaf for the day?
It's not like E3 where everyone has been planning to sit on gaf for 8 hours a day. Plus E3 is the first day a of summer for a bunch of students.
thefoxtrot
Member
meh.
OverdriveOtaku
Member
AND SUDDENLY, Sony's VR item looks soooooo much more appealing than a Facebook Rift.
For increased security? Like, the most important part of a payment system? With Facebook's backing you better believe payment security down the line for the consumer version is not going to have any hold ups should issues arise, with the fear of upsetting such a large organization.
You don't need it, but it doesn't inherently come with negatives. None that I can see ATM.
DJSebolski
Member
I'm just laughing at all people saying they would not take the money, and talking about making history.. Riiight...
thunder_snail
Member
Of course they will continue supporting Oculus. That's not the point. It's about supporting Oculus to drive the VR tech forward or milking it for money. What do you think the brass at Facebook was thinking when they decided to spend $2 billion on it?
Oh my God, hahaha.
They are gonna get their OR devices. There's no reason for them to be upset. This kind of tech was not gonna be niche forever.
I hope his vision makes it out of the ass end of Facebook unscathed. Unlikely, but we can hope.
-MD-
Member
Yeah the people bashing Notch for that are idiots.
Souldestroyer Reborn
Banned
Palmer Lucky was building prototypes out of phone screens and ski goggles while the VR to most of us was "Hey guys, remember VIRTUAL BOY? LOLZ." To suggest that he, or anyone else working on the Rift, only cares about the money and is going to let Facebook ruin everything is insulting to all of them.
I don't know anything about what I'm talking about but let me make wild, uninformed guesses anyway!
Notch is working directly with a company that helped the NSA spy on people. You really think he's all about principals?
I don't know anything about what I'm talking about but let me make wild, uninformed guesses anyway!
Notch is working directly with a company that helped the NSA spy on people. You really think he's all about principals?
Because Facebook is interested in social networking and ads and nothing else. If they were interested in becoming a Google or an IBM or a Microsoft that'd be one thing, but I haven't seen that from them. Oculus Rift is likely to become some stupid facebook gimmick
They would need a payment solution so that customers can pay them for their product.
Then they, the backers, only fooled themselves that company eventually want to make MORE money.
That's why I don't back ANY kickstarter. If you want my money, show me the product I'm interested in, not the promise.
You realize Sony will to bring VR Facebook to their platform, just like they brought it to Vita and PS4?
People should hope for openness and collaboration, not sink into stupid hardware tribalism AGAIN.
Rebel Leader
THE POWER OF BUTTERSCOTCH BOTTOMS
Mother fuck!!!!
qa_engineer
Member
so this came out of nowhere it seems. I don't even understand the point of this purchase by facebook, it's yet to make sense.
I don't need to, because they are. This isn't about tech or even type of company -- it's about corporate culture and how culture determines the direction of different departments. People that sell their companies go through a honeymoon phase where everything runs as it did, except you now have way more resources to leverage. Then, you start hiring people, and those people are hired through the HR of the main company, and the culture begins to skew. Officer level positions become available due to normal attrition -- this people are then replaced by up and comers from other parts of FB, and the culture erodes further. It doesn't take long before employees enamored with the old culture begin leaving for other opportunities, not likening the change -- and the transformation speeds up.
You see this in every single acquisition by public companies through all types of corporations -- this will happen. It's inevitable.
People have this belief that "the higher ups" are silly people that just do whatever they want. They do, but they're rich because they understand where the value of a company comes from. Can you please serve me a vision wherein they can kill of what VR is to you, but still push it the way you seem to think they will? Then I can refute why that wouldn't happen. I would try to do it now, but I understand that just because a company acquires another, doesn't mean they think they can do it better. It means that company sees an upside in what the other company is doing, and they want to own that upside. Not fuck it over.
Honestly, this belief is so myopic, it's kind of tiresome. If Facebook wanted to make a VR headset, they'd spend 500$ million on R&D and make one themselves. They don't want that. They want Oculus, because Oculus is doing things right. Why anyone think some 'suits' would ruin that doesn't coincide with the whole "they just want money"-idea. It's because they just want money that they'll let Oculus do what they want.
Facebook needs this company for Facebook Glass.
lol
And what is that I'm doing exactly? I have no horse in this VR race. When a large corporation buys a company they don't do it out of the kindness of their hearts. They do so because they believe they can incorporate the investment to their own goals going forward. I'm not going to live in a lala land where FB just gave them the money and said you do your thing because we know nothing.
Facebook doesn't care about games. People expect the focus of the development team and marketing teams to change. It'll be fine for now, but if they neglect it for years, the product will die.
And, as always with this sort of acquisition, there is the possibility that the company won't survive the transition. Even with the best of intentions, things can go wrong. EA just wanted Origin, Bullfrog and Westwood to keep pumping out great games, but they managed to destroy those companies anyways.
Can Crusher
Banned
Sony should take the leap of faith now and turn Morpheus into a multiplatform device. For real.
What? FB is entirely optional on PS4 and Vita. Do you think you'll be able to use the Rift, now owned by FB, without a FB account? Hahahahaha
Nydius
Member
Indeed. That's practically a PR form letter. When the company I was working for back in 1998 was bought by its nearest competitor, we got a very similar letter making the same bold claims: Everything will be better, nothing will change, we'll grow faster with more resources, blah blah blah.
Within a year, old management was gone and new management was cannibalizing our old systems. By the second year, they laid off 90% of the original team, myself included, shuttered the original building and merged it with their primary headquarters. They then "retired" the name of their original, inferior, software and tacked on the new name from the other company. Despite all their PR bullshit, all they really wanted was the name and the positive press associated with it.
Anyone who believes the Oculus team has full autonomy is completely naive to the way public business works, especially in the modern economy where shareholders want short term gains NOW.
The smart business decision would've been not to, considering they already had enough funding to finish the consumer product.
Acme Packet was purchased for 2.1 billion by Oracle, and that's a company with 10 or so qualified competitors and not even remotely the same potential that VR has. Same goes for ExactTarget (2.5 billion), SoftLayer (2 billion), and so on. These were acquisitions made in 2013 alone, by the way.
The guys at Oculus could've sold the company for $200 million a year ago, but they took $2 billion(1/5 in cash) now. If they become leaders in VR consumer products, don't you think they could be worth at least 10 times more in a few years?
Notch doesn't need excuse to keep doing what has been done for years now, which is puting minimal investment/effort into minecraft devellopement. Seems like for VR just like the rest, modder will have to do the work for them.
But always nice of him to do something like that, and punish VR enthusiast for something they have no power on.
ChiliManiac
Banned
and having worked in a small start up before, Every CEO spins shit to his own employes as well. That's their whole job. Internal, and external.
old manatee
Banned
Rich people ruin everything.
TAJ
Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Just like Dual Shock, Dual Shock 2, Six Axis, Dual Shock 3, Dual Shock 4 and Move could never be used on PC?
I'll cross post that here to repeat my opinion (this is difficult to be heard in this kind of thread!):
People are panicking for nothing right now.
And again and again, VR is not compatible with facebook at all, for now. So stop imagining they want you to put your glasses on to use facebook.
Facebook has to be always on, and easily usable everywhere. it won't happen with VR. it could be possible with a google glass equivalent maybe..
The VR thing, they want it for extra content. As a device to sell vr content to people, tourism, sport, etc..
And by the way Sony is aiming the exact same thing on the long term.. They even talked about it in their conf.
People are panicking for nothing right now.
And again and again, VR is not compatible with facebook at all, for now. So stop imagining they want you to put your glasses on to use facebook.
Facebook has to be always on, and easily usable everywhere. it won't happen with VR. it could be possible with a google glass equivalent maybe..
The VR thing, they want it for extra content. As a device to sell vr content to people, tourism, sport, etc..
And by the way Sony is aiming the exact same thing on the long term.. They even talked about it in their conf.
Their product is hardware. They sell it to retailers, not customers.
The only use for Facebook's payment system is if they are going to mandate their own anti-consumer payment solution that censors any corporately inconvenient users, same as the iOS App Store.
Like with Facebook and Instagram? Honestly, can you come up with another example of a business acquisition that ended up the way you say it will, that doesn't come from the gaming world?
See my previous post to see why this "corporate culture" stuff is merely a cartoon-like and childlike portrayal of what investors, stakeholders and 'higher ups' are about.
smokeandmirrors
Banned
"Company won't do this because Company will actually do this instead."
ebullientprism
Member
I dont blame Notch for dropping support. Its not like he is losing any money by not supporting OR and I can totally understand why it would creep him out. Facebook has always been a bit of a slimy company and why would you want to associate with that in any way or shape?
They clearly stated that are not making one. They only have small R&D division and are willing to share their results to anyone who wants to build VR systems. They are fully committed to integrate Oculus Rift support directly into Steam via new VR SDK.
ProudCanuck
Banned
Notch just cancelled minecraft on oculus. Its on his twitter
yup, that's what companies like facebook do
blow a couple billion to alienate everyone and get literally nothing out of it