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[PanicFreak]

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?

Anytime you have next to no revenue and your expenses are piling up, you should probably sell your business for $2 billion.

Who's to say that VR will even be a $2 billion market in a few years? I would guess that all consumer VR devices command around $100 million in revenue per year in a couple of years. I have a feeling that the people at OR just got paid like they will completely dominate a market that is assumed to be much larger than it probably will be.

 

[tanod]

Just got home. WAT?

Oculus is dead to me..

 

[SaberEdge]

http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/letter-to-the-team-from-brendan-iribe/

I think a lot of people are jumping to conclusions and overreacting. I think this will overall be a boost to VR gaming. We'll see how it all shakes down, but I bet that those who are proclaiming doom and gloom for the RIft are going to be very surprised when they realize that is not the case.

 

[Briarios]

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.

Yeah, people with no experience with large corporations don't really understand how this stuff works. They also don't understand how people (mostly officers) are offered big incentives to stay on so that it doesn't spook investors as some sort exodus.

 

[KiraFA37]

Well this was unexpected. Facebook seems to be taking a hands-off approach while supporting them with infrastructure and money. Good.

 

[Frologic]

*Gulp*

Now I'm wondering what changes to expect.

Currently the only good thing to come out this news. Thank you for that laugh.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

OMG this might be the first step to a world like in "Summer Wars"!

Wow, I just watched this yesterday and the timing of this news is really freaking me out.

 

[Can Crusher]

Why would I pay Oculus at all, if the platform was going to remain open?

The only reason for a payment API is if there's a whitelisted App Store, iOS style.

Exactly. There's a real chance Facebook will close the platform.

People are acting like nothing will change and Facebook will keep Oculus Rift just a piece of hardware that is open for everybody to make games for it. No strings attached? Not the Facebook we know.

 

[nkarafo]

Damn, are there any good Virtual Boy deals out there?

 

[rezuth]

John Carmack is gonna bring that low latency to Facebook.

 

[stufte]

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.

As a kids toy, sure. But in that it has absolutely been mainstream. Nintendo in the 80's benefited from tv shows, movies, breakfast cereals and 1000s of other products. Everyone knew who Mario was. Just because it was mainly a kids product doesn't mean it was some sort of underground thing. It was very much mainstream.

 

[Little Old Man]

Talk about an almost perfect act of selflessness from the OR Kickstarter funders though! Each one has helped ensure a group of people they have never met, possibly living in another country will live long, happy lives without fear nor any chance of falling into poverty.

All they got in return was a beta headset! They didn't even stipulate any ownership or stake in the company! Hats off to the funders, each and every one!

 

[BeerSnob]

You think a facebook account will be requisite for hardware? The OR connects to a PC like a monitor without any drivers required, why would they add a Facebook login to use a monitor?

Same reason EA requires origin, Plex requires an account and all consoles require a user account tied to the system, sweet sweet advertising dollars aimed at targeted demographics. Gotta monetize those teens somehow.

 

[QuicheFontaine]

Are you going to tell Stump that to?

Cross-posting from another thread is fair enough.

Quoting yourself to get your wall-o-text post on every page of the thread is pretty obnoxious. If it's a good post, other people will quote it.

 

[border]

Do you think you'll be able to use the Rift, now owned by FB, without a FB account? Hahahahaha

Fuck, what am I going to do? It's so hard to get a Facebook account. Last I heard was that the waitlist was like 6 months.

 

[spekkeh]

I'm sure it's been posted, but Notch wrote a blog post explaining a bit more his tweet:

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



Doesn't sound that salty to me. Sounds pretty reasonable (and this is coming from someone that think Notch can be a bit too much sometimes). I mean, he's right. The company has had a pretty poor history. So why should he work with them, if he's not comfortable doing so. And since Oculus has been bought out by them, it only makes sense to pull the deal. So why is that Salty?

I like Notch, but Mojang is a lot newer than Facebook, so the stability thing does seem salty.

 

[FStop7]

Fuck, what am I going to do? It's so hard to get a Facebook account. Last I heard was that the waitlist was like 6 months.

I heard you can only get a Face Book account if you're a student at a university.

 

[TalonJH]

Okay, Im reserving my judgment on this for right now but someone has to make a gif of the scene in Back To The Future 2 where the doc say something terrible had happened and he hands the news paper to Marty and it now say "Facebook acquires Oculus Rift". PM me if you make it.

 

[Fox_Mulder]

Oculus Rift company: take the money and run

 

[Mushroomer25]

There will certainly be a focus shift. Facebook isn't interested in buying a VR for gaming at all. Facebook isn't interested in getting into gaming. If they were they would've bought Zynga years and years ago. In fact of the 46 acquisitions Facebook has made exactly 0 of those are about gaming. Therefore, you're faced with two possibilities. 1) Zuckerberg suddenly wants to get into gaming and instead of buying a studio has bought a VR maker? or more likely 2) Zuckerberg wants to use VR for social networking purposes. I tend be believe #2 because he has said as much.


Essentially, "Yeah OK, you guys can do this gaming stuff on the side, but there's a bunch of other stuff we have for you to do."
Overall it's good news for VR, but bad news for gamers that wanted Oculus to be a gaming endeavor. It's not anymore. They'll have to get it from Sony (or Valve if rumors are to be believed---lol) if they want a 100% gaming dedicated VR set.

Question - what exactly dictates a "gaming dedicated" VR set? The things that would make the Rift better for Zuckerberg's suggested uses (courtside seats, lectures), make it better for gaming. Lower latency in movement is going to be key in removing the nausea factor. Surround sound is just as appealing for a sporting arena as a Quake arena. I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" TV, I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" monitor, and I don't see why I'd need a "gaming-dedicated" VR headset.

 

[malfcn]

But it's not April yet. And not Amazon?

 

[Byakuya769]

It's stupid if it's serious. It's stupid if it's sarcasm.

People bought a product via Kickstarter - the devkits. And they were delivered. If buying a company's product, which ultimately leads to its further success somehow makes one an "investor" then Apple owes my parents a few million dollars in return for the money they "invested" by purchasing an Apple II in 1980.

People keep repeating this, but everyone knows that "funding" the project is a key component of Kickstarter. Most people aren't simply buying a product, their funding an idea and getting some consideration instead of equity. Pretty disingenuous to compare that to purchasing a consumer item on sale.

From Kickstarter itself:

1. Kickstarter is a new way to fund creative projects.

We’re a home for everything from films, games, and music to art, design, and technology. Kickstarter is full of projects, big and small, that are brought to life through the direct support of people like you. Since our launch in 2009, 5.8 million people have pledged $1 billion, funding 58,000 creative projects. Thousands of creative projects are raising funds on Kickstarter right now.

Kickstarter is an investment, you just don't get any equity in return.

 

[neptunes]

You think a facebook account will be requisite for hardware? The OR connects to a PC like a monitor without any drivers required, why would they add a Facebook login to use a monitor?

Don't bother, people aren't using logic

The OCULUS RIFT is just a piece of hardware, it's not a content delivery service of any kind.

Think of it as a monitor.

 

[M3d10n]

I think you people need to calm down until we see what comes from this. "OCULUS SOLD OUT, FACEBOOK ABOUT THE MONEY." Please. I'm not saying that profit won't be a motive here, but people really think Facebook is going to completely neuter the project? Are we even clear on how they would even do such a thing? If their object was first and foremost to make money, wouldn't you think that they would open the Oculus to both "Farmville games" (-_-) as well as the other stuff that they were originally working on? I really think Facebook did this so they could be ahead of the curve on whatever they think will come of VR, not to specifically crush all of your dreams.

Because OR now must generate money in amounts that please FB shareholders and furthers FB's agenda. If it fails that, it'll eventually get axed. And "failing" could very well mean selling a nice $300 PC accessory that requires a high-end GPU to be enjoyed and doesn't appeal to seniors and soccer moms much.

Question - what exactly dictates a "gaming dedicated" VR set? The things that would make the Rift better for Zuckerberg's suggested uses (courtside seats, lectures), make it better for gaming. Lower latency in movement is going to be key in removing the nausea factor. Surround sound is just as appealing for a sporting arena as a Quake arena. I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" TV, I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" monitor, and I don't see why I'd need a "gaming-dedicated" VR headset.

Oh, we'll probably get some nice hardware. But if it fails to hit FB-grade mainstream, it will be put to pasture and then we'll have nothing.

 

[boeso]

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.

That's not the point, Facebook are fucking huge.Huge amounts of data handed to the NSA. We should't trust them. But please try and defend how Facebook make their money please. Find a scrap of decency.

 

[Mindwipe]

Like with Facebook and Instagram?

You mean the Instagram that just after it's Facebook acquisition changed it's terms to take copyright in all submissions and had to backtrack after the site virtually collapsed?

Or the one that then started demanding some user's passports or closing their accounts? (http://www.theverge.com/2013/1/26/3918340/instagram-photo-id-verification-policy-explanation)

Or the one that pulled their Twitter integration because Facebook didn't like it?

Or started censoring hashtags after a kerfuffle about drugs on the service?

 

[Exploding8]

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

I guess there's two ways of thinking about it

1. They've shown no interesting in becoming the next Google or Microsoft or what have you
or
2. They're finally moving into something that could allow them to become the next Google or Microsoft or whatever


Seriously, Facebook didn't have enough to become huge like Amazon or Microsoft, etc. Instagram and all the other shitty apps it bought up never had potential to become huge beyond giving them a bit more ad revenue; buying Oculus means they now have the potential to lead an entire new industry.

So hopefully that's what they do.

Spoiler

Or they'll run it into the ground. Please god no T.T

 

[UnblessedSoul]

They sold out, gotta look elsewhere for VR now

 

[DJSebolski]

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?

"IF" doesn't make you rich and doesn't guarantee anything. It's not even worth that much money.

 

[atr0cious]

I picture @YOSP somewhere going through this thread just loving this shit

"Our biggest competitor in this fledgling tech industry has as much money as us and software on all our products... fuck. Go back to the garage sellouts."

 

[Warewolf]

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.

Just for reference,

"By Gamers for Gamers"

Were the exact words from their original Oculus VR Kickstarter pitch.

Whereas

"We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning."

Was from today's announcement. Sure you can infer that video games will be a part of those experiences but it's a far cry from what that original $2.5m was predicated on. You can't really argue that in order to be worthy of this capital from Facebook there needs to be an eventual change in their personal vision. It's certainly not as clear as it was when that Kickstarter pitch was written.

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

The way people here talk, the Rift just became some proprietary device that can only play what Lord Zuckerberg deems appropriate. Why don't you wait for solid proof before making ridiculous generalizations?

You just wait until they introduce compulsory Facebook integration.

Just for reference, "By Gamers for Gamers" Were the exact words from their original Oculus VR Kickstarter pitch.

Oh man. That's sad.

 

[fasTRapid]

yes their purchases so far have obviously made them a ton of money and show remarkable business acumen

Just like them going Wall Street, lol

 

[orioto]

Question - what exactly dictates a "gaming dedicated" VR set? The things that would make the Rift better for Zuckerberg's suggested uses (courtside seats, lectures), make it better for gaming. Lower latency in movement is going to be key in removing the nausea factor. Surround sound is just as appealing for a sporting arena as a Quake arena. I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" TV, I don't need a "gaming-dedicated" monitor, and I don't see why I'd need a "gaming-dedicated" VR headset.

smart talk

 

[Phades]

i dont think theyll sell the hardware at a loss but there's plenty of ways to make money here.

- OR patent portfolio value will go up as the tech gets popular
- owning a VR ecosystem and storefront
- developer support
- brand cachet
- peripheral hardware

I'd sooner expect them to patent war on how VR devices can be used first.

 

[Donos]

All eternal optimists, please listen to this man. FB didn't spend 2 billion to let Palmer explote his dream. Oculus needs to start making money for FB shareholders, and that's not going to happen by selling $300+ VR hardware to the high end PC market that is like .00001% of the population. The Rift will need to evolve and be targeted at the FB market, and I don't think I need to tell you that that market is not rocking dual titans.

The naïveté in this thread is astounding.

It's pretty late and this news hit right from the left field but i think this post (and similar ones) are more to the truth than the optimistic ones.

Let's see what happens. Next statement from Carmack will be interesting.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

That's not the point, Facebook are fucking huge.Huge amounts of data handed to the NSA. We should't trust them. But please try and defend how Facebook make their money please. Find a scrap of decency.

Where did I defend how they make their money?

You wanted to move to someone without NSA "taint" and I wanted to know who you suggest to move to that isn't "tainted" by the NSA.

 

[Mushroomer25]

They sold out, gotta look elsewhere for VR now

Yeah, go to small independent companies like Sony for your mass-produced technology.

 

[CoG]

I thought this was a joke when I saw it on reddit. Really? That's terrible news and greatly undervalued. John Carmack works for Facebook? Ugh.

 

[Ozigizo]

They rode the hype train all the way in to acquisition town. Did they have a booth at E3 this year?

 

[jaaz]

Holy shit, what kind of publicly-traded, international company would ever ever expect to turn any kind of profit by trying to sell $300 hardware platform to gamers? That would never happen

Your naitivity is sort of cute. Dude, I'm a gamer too and have no issues dropping $300+ on VR. But you are delusional if you think that we make up any significant part of the population, and certainly not FB's target market. You need to read something else besides GAF. This is not a labor of love for FB, they need to make this work for FB users. How many hard core gamers do YOU know that use FB regularly?

 

[Mononoke]

I like Notch, but Mojang is a lot newer than Facebook, so the stability thing does seem salty.

I took his comment about stability as in how they are always shifting the platform to benefit their own needs (social), at the peril of the game (from a dev perspective). Basically, the platform isn't consistent or stable enough for him to work with. So I'm still not seeing how this is being "salty". Sounds to me like, he doesn't think Facebook has a good history/track record as a games platform, so he doesn't want to work with them.

 

[Deadstar]

Oculus Rift company: take the money and run

You're telling me for 2 billion you wouldn't do the same? What temptation.

 

[Slavik81]

They specifically state they have zero intention in changing how the Rift will pursue gaming applications. Why is this a death knell?

Words are cheap, and a few soothing words can help ease concerns during the transition phase. And, it's probably true, for now. A year down the line is when the changes begin.

 

[Kurdel]

I am not a techie, but I suspect they will require a FB account to use software that works with the OR. That's how FB makes money. They will find a way to make sure you create and use a FB account to use the OR. Count on it.

No, Occulus wants the platform to be open. It won't have a launcher because it doesn't need one.

You are Imagining a VR device made by Facebook with an onboard sotware, where such a login would make sense. A product that doesn't exist, mind you.

 

[olimpia84]

This is crazy, wow

 

[Mindwipe]

They're currently selling DK2 directly to people on their website, and they're presumably using some sort of payment solution for that.

Facebook's payment solution is completely unsuitable for physical goods, because it's set up for dealing with virtual good transactions.

It's for in app purchases and software purchases.

 

[Tunin]

That backfire. I wonder if it wasn't better to fund the project and remain anonymous.

 

[FyreWulff]

Feels like an acquisition solely to deny other companies, if it makes any sense.

Kind of like when Apple went around buying other music platforms and then shuttering them.

Facebook wants the patents and the software stack. They don't want Apple, MS, or anyone else to buy out Oculus from under them.

 

[geeko]

You've got to be fucking kidding me. WTF.