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[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

Would they have been able to compete with a monster like Sony otherwise?

Sony is closed platform, and not a competitor to Oculus.

 

[Usobuko]

 

[B.O.O.M]

"Company won't do this because Company will actually do this instead."

A standard procedure for a large investment like this is the one investing being involved with decision making etc going forward. Which part of that logic is so controversial or crazy to you?

 

[Mindwipe]

You're honestly not surprised that they did this, are you?

No, not at all.

Which is why I won't be surprised in the slightest when Facebook blocks software sold via Steam from using the Oculus APIs in favour of the Facebook VR app store that must use the Facebook In-App payment mechanism either.

 

[BraXzy]

Notch and Owen Good are exactly right. It's a bit worse than bad form to pull the rug out from the backers to 'partner' with a monster like Facebook, especially considering that their innovation was the result of the good will of the most successful hardware crowdfunding ever.

Backers paid for Dev Kit 1, they Kickstarted the companies production and such. No one invested into anything, no shares were bought, there was never a promise made to be backer only. Heck they previously gained $75 million private investments.. people who would also be trying to make money.

 

[friday]

I can't get over them paying 2 billion for Oculus. How can a company that has almost no real income be valued at 2 billion? Do they have some mind blowing tech in development that they haven't shown?

I dont know how I feel about this, but I am a bit bothered that Oculus is going to be part of a publicly traded company. Hopefully the money will empower them to build something amazing, and the tech stays open to real game developers. I would like to hear valves reaction to this news.

Also, when was the last time a thread blew up on gaf this fast?

 

[DieH@rd]

 

[mocoworm]

The whole deal only happened in the last 5 days!!

http://techcrunch.com/2014/03/25/facebook-oculus-deal/

Facebook’s deal to buy Oculus VR for $2 billion happened relatively quickly and the negotiations were hammered out over the last five days, according to sources familiar with the deal.

Mark Zuckerberg had been by Oculus’ offices just once before to hang out earlier this year. He played with the company’s DK2, or second development kit.

Both Spark Capital, which led the company’s $16 million Series A round, and Andreessen Horowitz, which led the company’s $75 million Series B round, have an equal stake in the company, according to the source. Matrix was also in the Series A as well. Venture capitalist Marc Andreessen, who sits on Facebook’s board of directors, recused himself from the negotiations.

“For whatever reason, he got the religion,” a source involved in the deal said. Oculus’s headset has already seen 75,000 orders for development kits, Zuckerberg said on an investor call.

Zuckerberg explained that he felt that Oculus represented an entirely new post-PC and post-mobile platform.

Indeed, after not moving quickly on other earlier deals, perhaps Zuckerberg felt that he needed to be more pre-emptive.

Because Facebook doesn’t own its own mobile operating system, it has had to pursue a more horizontal strategy by building several standalone mobile apps and creating a social layer across third-party apps. But because mobile phones can also be connected by the address book, other competing mobile social networks like Snapchat have been able to rise up quickly and accumulate hundreds of millions of users.

According to other sources familiar with the $19 billion WhatsApp deal, the company’s leadership on the messaging product had been urging Zuckerberg to buy WhatsApp for at least two years. But because both companies didn’t get serious until this year, WhatsApp had already accumulated nearly half a billion users and came with a significantly higher price tag.

“I don’t think you should expect us to do multiple multi-billion dollar acquisitions at this rate,” Zuckerberg said on the call. “We think that WhatsApp is one of the rare companies that will reach 1 billion people and those companies are really valuable. Also, there are not that many things that are candidates to be the next major computing platform. This company Oculus has a clear lead to do this.”

 

[Wereroku]

Man Cliffyb won't even need to release his game now. This is a huge roi for him. With Facebook's backing the rift could get into development pretty quickly.

 

[The Bookerman]

I hope Carmack completely ignores it and says something like 'made a breakthrough in low-persistence by re-calibrating the augmented quantum tunnels on there'

I don't think carmack wants to work for a company like facebook. But that's just a hunch.

 

[NullPointer]

BINGO. It's a fucking display, people.

Its a fledgling platform. And:

We’re able to tap into Facebook’s experience and backend systems for our platform services. As an added bonus, Oculus now has a rock solid, global payments solution.

(source)

My monitor doesn't do this.

 

[Fox_Mulder]

thanks for proving that VR is viable palmer

best of luck, hope you find a better job soon way to spend all this money

fixed

 

[BlazingDarkness]

lol This one is good, too:

Developers react: Facebook buys Oculus VR

They got molydeux lol

 

[Mushroomer25]

That's like saying "Headphones that I use for work are going to be even better for gaming! Because what do you really do? I talk into my headset at work, I talk into my headset when I game. So win/win!" Yes you don't need a gaming dedicated TV. But you do have a gaming dedicated graphics and sound card, just like people have gaming dedicated headphones.

For one, I'd argue you don't actually need gaming dedicated headphones. You're really just buying a fancy headset for a nice microphone - which is an input device, and irrelevant to a conversation about the Rift.

The subject of interest is visual display devices here. Things like higher resolution, lower latency, and better audio quality are universal positives, that everyone will desire. We'll likely see high, medium, and low-priced Rift units, much like you see in any display device.

Also, Oculus has been working on the current version of the Rift for years, and seemed to be reaching a consumer SKU. Do you really expect Facebook to toss all of that out the window?

 

[tino]

LOL only gaben can save the PC master race tribe now.

you know when AOL had money they actually spent it on real companies like Time Warner.

 

[CountAntonius]

Sony is closed platform, and not a competitor to Oculus.

Seeing the all the Sony praise in this thread tells me otherwise.

 

[BeerSnob]

I wonder what Carmack thinks of all this.

Probably the same thing he thought when Bethesda bought iD.

 

[Jedi2016]

Morpheus is suddenly looking a lot more interesting to me.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

lol This one is good, too:

Developers react: Facebook buys Oculus VR

That last reaction got me, so good.

 

[RelentlessRolento]

Longterm this may be ok but my initial reaction is still not a positive one.

 

[vpance]

I reckon it's made Morpheus more attractive

Can we expect a new video from Shu and Boyes?

"This is how you play games in VR..."

 

[Zeth]

Remember when Disney bought ESPN, and then they started making them have Donald Duck do the play-by-play commentary on all hockey games?

Some of you have kind of a dumb viewpoint on what it means for one company to acquire another.

Some of the reactions are YouTube comment quality - legendary thread.

 

[TAJ]

My least favourite part.
He gave them $10k for a devkit and a chance to meet John Carmack.
That they got bought by Facebook doesn't change anything about the kickstarter.

SMH
$270 for the dev kit leaves $9300 for Carmack. Do you really think he would have paid $9,300 to meet Carmack outside the context of the Kickstarter and helping push a project he believed in forward? Not likely.

 

[Outtrigger888]

Geeez some of you guys are salty. If anything this is going to help VR as it proves big companies are interested in this technology. It gives developers faith to throw money at projects knowing the product they're developing for will have a chance in a crowded tech industry.

 

[SlipperySlope]

I don't even care about VR, but still... fuck you Zuckerberg. He's like a virus. Ruins everything he touches.

 

[marrec]

I... don't see how this can both make sense for facebook and be a good thing.

Unless maybe it's the first step of their transition to a media/technology company?

Facebook is no longer interested in being 'www.facebook.com' and much more interested in competing with Google and Apple.

Occulus is a great way to do that.

 

[CaleDawkins]

Remember when Disney bought ESPN, and then they started making them have Donald Duck do the play-by-play commentary on all hockey games?

Some of you have kind of a dumb viewpoint on what it means for one company to acquire another.

I remember when they started having "Hey random star from ABC show, how about you come into the booth for Monday Night Football?" and in a much smaller effect, Bill Simmons having to neuter his column as to not offend the Disney overmind.

 

[smokeandmirrors]

A standard procedure for a large investment like this is the one investing being involved with decision making etc going forward. Which part of that logic is so controversial or crazy to you?

The part where you claim to know what they are going to do with Oculus?

Businesses buy other businesses all the time but it's not like they all do the same thing with each business they acquire.

 

[DigitalOp]

I feel sorry for people who were really interested in the tech...

FB is gonna hold OR a fuckton back from what its true potential could have been...

 

[aeolist]

frog fractions 2 added a new stretch goal:

let's get it there people!

 

[BurnOutBrighter]

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!

Yup. I was already uneasy about giving money to people with no obligation for them do what they say they'll do, but this is another good reason to never, ever support a Kickstarter.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Its a fledgling platform.

The relevant platform part of Oculus is in developer support. Inevitably, there will be one set of standards for developing VR. You'll see ports between the Rift, Morpheus, and sixty other cheap me-too devices. The goal is to define standards right now, and you do that by being the first to succeed at market.

 

[jaaz]

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.

What? Oculus wants? Oculus isn't driving the boat any more, it's FB. And there isn't a consumer version of the OR, it's just a dev-kit, so technically, NO product exists yet. Do you think that FB won't have a say in what eventually gets released to the public?

Do you remember what was the single biggest factor in FB's valuation when it had its IPO? That's right, number of FB accounts. Count on the OR or whatever the product is called requiring a FB account to use. That way, FB is not only selling hardware, but increasing its accounts and valuation. It's a no brainer.

 

[CountAntonius]

When/If carmac leaves and Valve drops it's support then I will start to really panic. I don't like what happened today but I know shit all about any of it to make any actual conclusions. It will be an interesting ride though.

 

[The Maverick]

I will definitely slap whoever tells me that VR won't be a hit next.

From Kickstarter to billions. In less than two years. Wow.

 

[Ryaaan14]

So how many casuals will spend $1000+ upgrade to 'properly' use OR? Supporters of OR has been all about 'OR is superior because it uses superior hardware aka PC, and Sony's morpheus is POS since it uses inferior hardware'.

Let's see how OR can convince ppl to upgrade their computer with titan GPU.

This guy has a point. How has no one else mentioned you need a thousand dollar graphics card to use the Rift?

 

[kuroshiki]

I cannot speak of these "OR people" and your false sense of outrage, honestly.

Look at the OR demos currently and tell me they cannot run on a PS2.

All you need is a smooth experience, and you don't need Titanfall level graphics to be immersed.

http://www.techradar.com/us/news/ga...r-too-limited-for-what-we-re-planning-1198420

Those OR people are the one who 'created' OR. Not some fanboys. or are they?

 

[Ferrio]

frog fractions 2 added a new stretch goal:

let's get it there people!

God I love these guys.

 

[Justified]

Meanwhile At Sony's Morpheus R&D center:

 

[Betta Lines]

Rift was supposed to be the driver of VR industry. Big corporations like Sony don't take risks and rarely innovate stuff. It was OR that made lots of people start paying attention to VR and it was Oculus that started experimenting to see what really works and doesn't work well for VR experience at lower costs.

The problem is not about Rift by Facebook selling well.
Think about it this way. Would any technology in existence right now have reached this point if it wasn't the hardcore enthusiasts demanding more?

I no longer understand the point you're trying to make. Are you saying that Facebook makes the Rift less 'hardcore'?

 

[aeolist]

Probably the same thing he thought when Bethesda bought iD.

"as soon as my contact's up i am gone"?

 

[Septimius]

You know what's funny..between you and me, you're the one going for hyperbole here lol

Let me break this down for you

I'm not saying they are going to 'ruin' OR or the product. I don't see the quality of the product getting affected

No need to explain why a company invests in another company. Human resources, expertise, patents etc etc all come in to play. So no need to keep drumming that same note either. It's basic knowledge

A large corporation investing such a large amount will do so only because it fits their own needs. It's not a charity. They won't let OR go unchecked with their work...don't be naive in thinking otherwise. They will want a good ROI afterall

The real major issue for core gamers is the division of priorities..and forgive me if I don't care much for PR statements by the companies involved. Heck even in PR we see mention of social aspect/experiences over and over again. Time will tell how it pans out but there is a real risk of their focus getting divided and gaming not getting as much attention as it should. Why would any company have blind faith in a new investment and not supervise it? Why wouldn't they set goals/targets for it? They will make certain OR team work towards meeting FB's goals as well

All I'm saying is being overly optimistic is being naive. There are very real potential risks involved with this for the core gamer.

I understand some comments are overly negative and dramatic...but this overly optimistic posts are just as silly

While of course Facebook can do whatever it wants with Oculus now, since it holds a majority stake, this doesn't mean that Facebook will fuck with what Oculus is. Stating otherwise is what I find hyperbolic. I'm arguing that for a good ROI, Facebook knows that it needs to let Oculus do what it's doing. This is a huge resource infusion into the product, and it'll push VR in ways we couldn't even imagine yesterday. I'll go along and say that maybe Facebook will ruin this when they try to reap what Oculus has become, but by then, VR will be so big that even if Oculus disappears, the movement will have started. This is such a huge boost to the fire that VR is, that one should be excited. Someone just evaluated VR at two billion dollars. Everyone's taking note of this. Everyone will want to move into the market. Someone might even come along and revolutionize it, yet again.

Of course there's a chance that Facebook can just fuck the whole thing up. I'm assuming the core team of Oculus wouldn't let that happen, and have made a deal with clauses safeguarding them from such things. But I can't assume they're not stupid, also, so anything is possible, of course. But in the meanwhile, all we do know is that someone just threw 2 billion dollars at unproven VR tech. That's what makes this huge in any regard.

 

[boeso]

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.

Yeah I made 2 points: one about them being a top NSA supplier of data and the second point was how Facebook make their money. I don't like corporations. There's no one to compare FB to lol they sell you shite whilst handing over your information. Dealwithit.

 

[StewboaT_]

hahahahaha

 

[espher]

Not like this. Not like this.

 

[Seanspeed]

"The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform," stated Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a Facebook post announcing the deal. "We're going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this."

- Zuckerberg

 

[TxdoHawk]

This is great news...for potential competitors.

Think about companies like MS, who will happily iterate on failed designs aggressively at their own expense. They are a direct threat to this kind of slow-cooked product plan.

There is a real danger here that someone comes in and eats Oculus' lunch by establishing dominant market share, long before they have even sniffed at the kitchen table.

 

[PnCIa]

Goodbye hardcore gaming focus.

 

[Carl]

RIP Oculus

Fuck Facebook with a 10foot stick wrapped in red-hot barbed wire.

 

[Liha]

Is Carmack just a normal employee or co-owner? When #2 wow he is rich