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Facebook has acquired Oculus VR for 2 Billion US Dollars

Did you even read my post?

You were talking about how VR needs to attract the hardcore first to be successful and that it would take a decade. I disagreed with that. I'm not sure what you didn't get about my post other than I mentioned Sony (because they are also relevant in the VR market). I believe that casuals are the most important audience for VR (as well as other non-gaming related fields) and that it would be big on release -- unlike you. Thus: "I wholeheartedly disagree". I'm sorry if you felt that I didn't read your comment.
 
The dream is dead.

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This image would be awesome as a gif with Notch morphing into Zuck.
 
This was my immediate thought when I heard the news. It has probably been mentioned before but I am still excited about what may be in store...

sCF0uuP.jpg


To the future!
 
Weird news, but I don't really get why so many people are acting like the company folded. Does everyone just hate it on principle, or are we really expecting things to go badly for Oculus from now on?
 
What a bunch of nonsense. The real money is in software sales and Sony with morpheus is going to have exclusive software too one of the hottest consoles in history right now that they can't keep on shelves and selling every single one they make. The target audience for Oculus hasn't changed. No 'marketing arm' is going to shift consumers to $1000 high end rigs.

VR isn't VHS vs. Betamax or Blu Ray vs HD DVD. Console and PC are two separate markets, this deal hasn't changed that
That's mighty high of someone, who's sitting on about as much knowledge as I am. Zero.

We are all speculating here. You think VR won't be big enough to be a new mainstay media form. Obviously, other people do. That includes individuals, and entire corporations. We're all hedging our bets, here. If this thing takes off like Facebook wants it to, and Sony sticks with "lucrative" software sales, revisionist history will look back at them as fools for missing out on something much much bigger. The opposite is also true.

Also, marketing to the PC audience doesn't stop them from selling that same exclusive software. Stopping dualshocks from being sold as standard PC controllers doesn't really benefit anyone.
 
Weird news, but I don't really get why so many people are acting like the company folded. Does everyone just hate it on principle, or are we really expecting things to go badly for Oculus from now on?

Well, a good amount of developers have canceled projects on the OR now.

Really, the only thing keeping them afloat is the massive amount of funding from Facebook.
It will go in the direction that Facebook wants it to go, not how the original dreamer thought it would.
 
How can you people really believe this? This is the shot of adrenaline OR needed
Yeah but it could change the direction at the end. Not main on hardware but software and content. Like marketplace etc..

Hardware might change too, something like smartphone built in. But hope not.
 
After letting things cool off.... I still don't get this acquisition, from Facebook side, they have never been interested in hardware before. From the OR side it is painfully obvious why it was done, Carmack can say what he wants, but I don't believe for a second they were really planning to have a billion users even in the medium term, and while Facebook's operation is indeed impressive, hardware is a completely different beast, and Facebook has basically zero experience in that area.
 
Weird news, but I don't really get why so many people are acting like the company folded. Does everyone just hate it on principle, or are we really expecting things to go badly for Oculus from now on?

People are rooting for it to fail because of Facebook. They are not familiar with any sayings regarding cutting off your nose to spite your face.
 
2 Billions?
well I'd have done the same!

I couldn't imagine anyone in this position truing down an offer like to, to be honest...
Oculus VR went from a 2.4 million dollar crowd funded company, to a 2 billion dollar buy out...

Honestly though, I think 2 billion is undervalued for this company, they spent more on less. I just hope Facebook can give Oculus VR some breathing room to grow on their own.
 
You were talking about how VR needs to attract the hardcore first to be successful and that it would take a decade. I disagreed with that. I'm not sure what you didn't get about my post other than I mentioned Sony (because they are also relevant in the VR market). I believe that casuals are the most important audience for VR (as well as other non-gaming related fields) and that it would be big on release -- unlike you. Thus: "I wholeheartedly disagree". I'm sorry if you felt that I didn't read your comment.

I said that because we both agree in that VR will be huge outside of AAA gaming. You just think it will happen a lot sooner than I do.

I don't think that's "wholeheartedly" disagreeing.

I don't believe the hardware is there in mass to sell to that many people. You need believable worlds to run at high framerates with no lag. You can't plug this into your average tablet and expect it to be able to push that kind of graphics that will immerse the person.

Maybe ten years is too long, but it ain't gonna happen next year.
 
2 billion is seriously cheap though, that palmer is dumb
5 billion would've been my minimum

...

Yeah, Oculus VR had the potential to be valued for far more down the road, but chances are realizing the vision and eventually shipping to market at the intended scale was going to be a very complicated and conflicted process. I imagine the reduction of risk combined with the new opportunities made that "meager" 2 billion pretty attractive/reasonable. Certainly, it's not like Oculus VR was being invested in anywhere close to that before.

Besides all this, I love how arbitrary that 5 billion figure is, along with the condescension toward the person who actually got his company to this point and is in a position to be far more in time with the nuances of the decision.

Part if me feels you're joking, but there's enough actual inane armchair CEOing to go around either way.
 
Sony wins

Except that this will likely cement Oculus as the most dominant VR platform going into the future. The issue with this is that it will stifle competition due to their patent acquisitions, they'll push Oculus forward no matter what company or start-up they knock over in the process.
 
Oculus now has far deeper pockets to draw from (limited by Facebook willingness in the same way Xbox and MS can't be equivocated in terms of resources), but they don't gain any production competencies via this acquisition.

Content is really king these days in any platform environment. I don't just mean games. And really Facebook brings nothing to the table there... although I suppose they can just throw some money and stock around to gain it.
Oh, I know FB doesn't really have existing production chains, but I merely meant that the 2 billion investment can also go towards opening up bigger chains. But yes, that all comes back to "bigger pockets".

You are correct about content. VR without the "must have" app or experience won't catch on. But I honestly feel that the title will be very organic, and won't be some blockbuster from either internal Sony or FB/OR. I mean it "could" be, but I think Minecraft proved that you really can't predict what will take off and be the next big thing.
 
I said that because we both agree in that VR will be huge outside of AAA gaming. You just think it will happen a lot sooner than I do.

I don't think that's "wholeheartedly" disagreeing.

I don't believe the hardware is there in mass to sell to that many people. You need believable worlds to run at high framerates with no lag. You can't plug this into your average tablet and expect it to be able to push that kind of graphics that's believable.

Maybe ten years is too long, but it ain't gonna happen next year.

Well then "wholeheartedly" was the wrong word. My mistake. I guess I "sort of disagree".
 
What do they win?
They win at being a grassroots non-corporate start-up built by gamers who truly care more about innovation than monetary gain, and would sooner shutter their doors before suggesting any type of application for their VR solution that doesn't directly revolve around the most hardcore gamers.
 
I couldn't imagine anyone in this position truing down an offer like to, to be honest...
Oculus VR went from a 2.4 million dollar crowd funded company, to a 2 billion dollar buy out...

Honestly though, I think 2 billion is undervalued for this company, they spent more on less. I just hope Facebook can give Oculus VR some breathing room to grow on their own.

Undervalued how? The product us great but there were literally hundreds of obstacles between them making this a viable product which is embraced by developers which could sustain a real business model outside of donations. They got far more than the value of their company because they had nothing to show that this was a 2 billion dollar company outside of excitement by techy nerds like us.
 
It is pretty interesting to see that Facebook has become the Big Bad. There's a very universal feeling of negativity towards this buyer... and that's putting aside the question of whether it's good or bad for VR.
 
They win at being a grassroots non-corporate start-up built by gamers who truly care more about innovation than monetary gain, and would sooner shutter their doors before suggesting any type of application for their VR solution that doesn't directly revolve around the most hardcore gamers.

Sony has already said the Mopheous can be used for non-gaming related content. It's only a matter of time.
 
So many people are upset but i think this is going to be great for OR. Palmer and OR seem to have a very clear vision for the rift and im sure there were stipulations in the buyout. This will undoubtedly help OR realize that that vision.
 
lolz, Carmack didn't even have a facebook account before today. Of course, he's now highly considering getting one. :P
 
A few semi-random thoughts about the news:
1) The Facebook acquisition will cause the business model behind Oculus VR to change. Facebook is built primarily on an advertising business model, so that will inevitably be a part of future Oculus VR offerings.
2) Facebook will still be interested in games, but will push for more social applications that can be monitized.
3) Sony's Morpheus now becomes the pure gaming oriented VR play. Sony has done well with a "core gamer" focus for PS4 and they will continue that focus for Morpheus. If Sony is smart, they will start blanketing AAA and indie developers alike with Morpheus kits and keep reiterating the "gaming first" mantra.
4) Unless Microsoft has been secretly working on VR for the past few years, they may find themselves behind Sony with no easy way (i.e., buying Oculus VR) to catch up. It will be interesting to see if and how Microsoft responds to both Sony and Facebook.
 
Here is what is going to happen with Oculus:

They are going to release the consumer version of the Rift like they normally would have but in a better time frame than we all expected. The tools will be available for all developers to make VR content or incorporate VR into their current games. So if they devs behind games like the Witcher 3, Mass Effect, Star Citizen want OR support they can build it in no problem.

The new piece that comes in, and this is where being backed by Facebook will help, is that Oculus will release a platform similar to Steam or the Apple App store where VR specific content can be published and sold. This is different from your traditional PC games because these games/apps/experiences will only support VR. So stuff like the roller coaster demo, the underwater demo, a concert app, a museum app, all of that will go on here and if desired can be sold to users. Facebook provides the infrastructure and social media hook ins and they get a share of every app sold on this platform.

That is the future for Oculus and I see this deal as a means for them to get there sooner.
 
This was my immediate thought when I heard the news. It has probably been mentioned before but I am still excited about what may be in store...

sCF0uuP.jpg


To the future!

i hope our future is better than one of the worst books of all time
 
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