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[Durante]

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.

Up to this point I mostly agree with you. Short-term, it might well improve the Rift CV1 product and execution. But the long-term goals and obligations have changed drastically. I just cannot see fulfilling FB milestones as being conducive purely to furthering VR.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WeBo_L0RytA

Fitting.

I envisage a proprietary connection API that requires a licence from Facebook to develop software on, and contains Facebook's standard terms and conditions. Nothing that will bring them into "disrepute". Nothing that features a breast. Facebook retain the right to arbitrarily pull any content at any time for any reason. Facebook to retain the right to access any and all data generated by the rift at any time for any reason.

You are being silly. They cant sabotage their product to that extent before reaching critical mass. After that, sure... but see below.

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.

I've never worked for a big company, but this stuff seems obvious to me. Long-term, Oculus is dead. Luckily, as Sony has shown, it's not hard at all to copy the tech.

I'm looking forward to my 2017 Huawei 4k HMD.

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?

Well, they have mind blowing tech in development which they have shown.

 

[BennyBlanco]

waiting for someone to "sit next to a guy on a plane" who tells him carmack is going to valve

 

[Turin Turambar]

I think its pretty reasonable to speculate what someone like Facebook would want with VR, and that it'll probably suck about as much as everything Facebook does.

I also don't see what value this adds to the product for someone who will never use Facebook.

Premature would be assuming this will be the first thing Facebook doesn't screw up.

But I digress, certainly you are technically correct.

Maybe they haven't bought Oculus to put VR in Facebook.

Maybe it's the other way around. They bought it because they wanted to put their company in the VR business, because they believe in a few years it will be something BIG.

 

[jim-jam bongs]

Pardon me, but didn't OR people are the ones who saying PS4 OR is not possible because of hardware limitation (not powerful enough)?

I'm pretty sure PS4 is more powerful than your macbook. What is going on?

On a scale of Kaz Hirai to 10, how hurt is your butt right now?

 

[BeerSnob]

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

Probably, yeah.

 

[StuBurns]

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'

'on there' is too perfect.

 

[ronito]

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?

I'd agree with your headphones argument. But there's whole market of people who would disagree with both of us.

But I'll disagree with the second point. We'll just have to see what Facebook does. They've had exactly one go at the consumer market so far and failed terribly. I can easily see them having a single SKU of the rift that's "good enough" for their intended needs. It might not be worth it to go toe to toe with Sony for high end stuff. Who knows. Facebook isn't a consumer electronics company so your guess is as good as mine.

Also, I didn't say they'd throw it all away. I said it would no longer be their sole focus. Gamers love companies that are by gamers for gamers (see the huge amount of love Valve enjoys and Bioware did before EA bought them out). That is no more. Some are going to feel gipped out.

 

[Typomancer]

Fucking perfect.

 

[Dennis]

 

[BlazingDarkness]

"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

Keep reading.

 

[OverdriveOtaku]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmjqudbf_RE

This is what Oculus will become with FB over its head.

 

[MaGlock]

I was still skeptical before this now I'm pretty sure this product will never impress me. Possibly the worse thing that could happen to the project

 

[Zephyrus]

This tweet is so stupid I don't know where to begin

Is it?

Pretty sure the backers gave money to help develop a device for gaming.
I know for certain I'd be pissed.

Heck, I'd even be demanding a share of those 2 billion since the project was funded with MY money.

But to each their own. Stupid people exist to be taken advantage of.

 

[iceatcs]

I knew it. They always want a computer inside the headset, e.g. android inside because it will completely over the latency, also as well wireless.
Now they need more R&D to make it without additional external tracker.

 

[enzo_gt]

"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

Confidence +1

 

[Septimius]

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.

As there's nothing proprietary about the Oculus Rift, this isn't really that big of a problem. At that point, someone else can just copy the Oculus and make it for everyone else. This could honestly happen, but see my previous post as to why I'm not too concerned, even if that happens.

 

[NoTacos]

what in the blue hell....... this makes no sense to me.

 

[Artakartel]

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1523379957/oculus-rift-step-into-the-game/comments

Well, I'm kind of horrified. I'd never have backed this if I'd had an inkling this might happen. Very happy I didn't preorder the second devkit; I'm going to wait and see what competitors might pop up.

All I can say with absolute certainty is I absolutely do not like, use, nor trust Facebook as a company. While my funds are yours fair and square, at this moment in time, I regret backing this. I sincerely hope I am wrong.

Wow I am in shock...VR was soo close..... now I feel we are back in 1993 again. what a setback.
I had so much hope for this project. You really need to give us a proper explanation for this move....

What in hell was the point of kickstarter if you sell out to a giant company like facebook?
This is very disappointing. I will no longer be supporting the Oculus rift in anyway.

I too want my $10 back. I don't want my VR experience in the Facebook mall.

Well the backers are taking this well...

 

[LouisaFerre]

I have no faith in Facebook whatsoever to handle this in the way I would like. At least the mainstream attention will lead to more competitors coming up.

 

[B.O.O.M]

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.

All I said was they will be involved with the decision making going forward and they will to make sure to get a good ROI on their investment

It's not rocket science nor do you need an imagination to come to that conclusion.

 

[todahawk]

I think the knee-jerk reactions about this are both immature and premature.

yeah, facebook has a great track record for privacy and stability /s
read Notch's post linked above...

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

 

[Einbroch]

I still can't wrap my head around it. Facebook paid $2 billion for:

1) The Oculus name
2) The chance to be first in the field

And that's it. Sony has at least shown that the tech can be copied...so what did Facebook even buy? Is the name and the chance to be first with a product that can be duplicated really worth $2 billion? It's just insane.

 

[Boomstick (Coffee Crazy)]

Its threads like these that make me question if Gafffers are truly as reasonable as they would like to think they are.

Cause you know, Zuckerburg would glady piss away a $2 billion investment just because.

 

[The Maverick]

bring me two vitas, a wiimote and a roll of duct tape. tomorrow we're pitching google.

Also, I wanted to say that this was a five star post.

 

[Mushroomer25]

Maybe they haven't bought Oculus to put VR in Facebook.

Maybe it's the other way around. They bought it because they wanted to put their company in the VR business, because they believe in a few years it will be something BIG.

That's pretty clearly what they're after. Facebook doesn't want to make a profit off this acquisition today, tomorrow, or even this year. They want to rake in the profits ten years from now, when every house in America has a Rift unit.

 

[Calabi]

Its not a good thing, just a large company getting larger, pushing out any possibility of that important supposed market stabilizer, competition. Good thing is I suppose they've wasted some of their capital, I doubt their going to get a return on that.

 

[spekkeh]

I just noticed Raimi Ismail was positive about this, so I'm positive about this.

 

[shira]

Goodbye hardcore gaming focus.

Hello Virtual Tour packages.

 

[Kurdel]

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?

They don't want to be spec locked, so they aren't on consoles. Doesn't mean consoles can't run the games, just that they are updated too slowly.


Can't understand why you are making a fuss, you can download and try Occulus demos on any computer and see how well they run for yourself. Doesn't have anything to do with their rationale for not being on consoles though...

 

[Cru]

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.

I thought it was a cross post. If it wasn't, I agree.

 

[Tobor]

The motion sensing is not a "fucking display". It needs drivers and you need an SDK to interface with said drivers.

All of which is needed no matter what kind of content you're displaying. Which is the point the guy I replied to was making.

Its a fledgling platform. And:


(source)

My monitor doesn't do this.

A fair point.

 

[GregLombardi]

Wow.

 

[sant]

Google makes most of their money from ads and that hasn't stopped Nexus hardware from being great

 

[NeededSleep]

Whelp there goes that dream.

How many ads and personal disclosures will we have to go through just to play a game.

 

[dab0ne]

Holy hell. That'll get the word out about the Oculus i guess.

 

[User Name Here]

lol

 

[Snaku]

I see this as extremely good news.

Positives of Facebook entering into VR race:
- Oculus now has infinite budget to craft perfect hardware, software and entire VR platform for PC and portables
- Countless more developers will become interested in VR, short byte-size games will find much larger audience on VR
- VR promotion on Facebook.com = MILLIONS of VR adopters on day 1
- More VR users of all kinds = more AAA games for us PC gamers
- Immediate infusion of entertainment/documentary/travel content
- Holy grail of VR - social networking inside minecraft-esque VR space. Just what Snow Crash depicted in its Metaverse.
- with stylized design, VR metaverse could be run even from iOS/Android phones
- Facebook can sell hardware with loss, providing incredibly HQ hardware for ~$99
- Presence of strong player in VR will force Sony to become very invested in VR, making much more compelling product and enabling 3rd parties much more streamlined path toward porting games to PS4


Negatives?
So far, none, as long PC gamers get what they were promised [and FB is willing not to interfere with that].



This is good news for VR.

 

[TheRealTalker]

"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

this is good

also Facebook has all that extra $$$ to push development

 

[FaustsBoon]

50+ pages, and no ExistenZ references? For shame GAF.

 

[BlackBuzzard]

Meanwhile At Sony's Morpheus R&D center:

Yeah i doubt it, i think Sony is more concerned because now they will be the only one seriously pushing VR for gaming.

 

[kuroshiki]

On a scale of Kaz Hirai to 10, how hurt is your butt right now?

Hurt? I was never interested in OR, but was planning to buy morpheus giving it is somewhere around $300 ballpark.

So how much does it hurt YOU?

 

[lmbotiva]

so they kickstarted their lotto ticket hmmm, smart people indeed

 

[Kabuki Quantum Lover]

Google makes most of their money from ads and that hasn't stopped Nexus hardware from being great

Eh... I wouldn't say great. Good for what you're paying for, but not great.

 

[RisingZan]

So this means we may actually see a consumer grade Rift sooner rather than later, and at a mass market price, right? riiiiight??

 

[sant]

I still can't wrap my head around it. Facebook paid $2 billion for:

1) The Oculus name
2) The chance to be first in the field

And that's it. Sony has at least shown that the tech can be copied...so what did Facebook even buy? Is the name and the chance to be first with a product that can be duplicated really worth $2 billion? It's just insane.

Look at how long Sony has been working on this for. 3 years and it is not even done yet. They get an almost finished product and the expertise of everyone that works there by buying Occulus. Where else do you find people with this knowledge and expertise working with VR?

 

[Niks]

This thread is gold. Huge news indeed.

 

[caesar]

So did the top end kickstarters recieve any shares in the company?

 

[Wolfgunblood Garopa]

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

It's because Morpheus is new. High end Oculus Rift software is going to require hardware that evolves parallel with the software, which will be at a fast pace.

 

[mattiewheels]

It's all ogre. Quote me on this. The entire project is basically killed off. We will never get the Oculus Rift, at least not the one we always wanted. Hopefully Sony does a decent job with their virtual reality kit.

Sure, does a $100 bet sound good? PM me!

 

[CountAntonius]

Eh... I wouldn't say great. Good for what you're paying for, but not great.

I've had both of the sevens. I would call them great.