Virtual Reality

Teekey · Mar 26, 2014

Jovec_sl said:
Is this the first big Kickstarter "betrayal" to leverage KS seed money into a buyout that the backers probably don't approve of? Not that they have any say...

The Kickstarter was really just to show there was interest so that they could attract Venture Capitalists. I mean, they got 2~ million on KS (however, they were only seeking 250k), and ended up getting over 100 million in VC cash afterwards (I believe).

VCs saw a huge and quick return on investment and jumped for it.

Abefroman · Mar 26, 2014

Tuco_sl said:
I wouldn't be surprised if they made a bid. 2 billion is a ton of money though, especially since their primary technology is outsourced and their software algorithms are replicatable.

So they basically paid for the name and maybe some patents instead of an already profitably business, which is why that chat program Facebook bought out got more?

Eorkern · Mar 26, 2014

Well Occulus is dead, Carmack is working for Facebook now can you imagine that ? Can you imagine a quicker way to kill our own company ! For 2billions I guess I would had done it too but damn... Wow...

Jovec · Mar 26, 2014

Eorkern_sl said:
Well Occulus is dead, Carmack is working for Facebook now can you imagine that ? Can you imagine a quicker way to kill our own company ! For 2billions I guess I would had done it too but damn... Wow...

I'm sure Carmack bought an ownership stake (or was given one) when he became CTO at Oculus, and is now profiting from the FB buyout.

Teekey · Mar 26, 2014

Well, according to Palmer on Reddit - getting away from investors gives them more freedom to aim for long-term success rather than having to meet short term returns.

1) We can make custom hardware, not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon.

2) We can afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects.

3) We can make huge investments in content. More news soon.

Oculus continues to operate independently! We are going to remain as indie/developer/enthusiast friendly as we have always been, if not more so. This deal lets us dedicate a lot of resources to developer relations, technical help, engine optimizations, and our content investment/publishing/sales platform. We are not going to track you, flash ads at you, or do anything invasive.

Obviously he's doing damage control to some extent. I'll probably give them the benefit of the doubt for now. The real evaluation for me will occur once there's an actual consumer product for me to pay for.

All I care is that it's good. If Facebook can help them do that without inundating it with ads or invasive privacy concerns, then I don't really give a shit.

Skanda · Mar 26, 2014

I'm not quite so ready to stick a fork in them but this definitely damages my trust in the company.

Pasteton · Mar 26, 2014

Kinda miss when tech was more of a grass-roots/wild west industry. Past 5-10 years its steadily become a VC / money driven machine of buyouts, IPOs, and all the other bullshit that the MBAs profit from

Sean_sl · Mar 26, 2014

Aaron · Mar 26, 2014

My desire to try this now has diminished significantly. With luck though it will be a good decision, but I still can't help but feel that Zuck will find some way to monetize the shit out of everything they can get their fingers on from people using this now.

Adebisi · Mar 26, 2014

I just bitched about the Oculusbook news on my Facebook.

At least no one can can accuse me of not knowing what irony is.

Muligan · Mar 26, 2014

What sucks about it is the fact it was crowd sourced/Kickstarted and they turned around and sold it. Pigs just want to get fatter.

Anyway... for your entertainment.

McFly · Mar 26, 2014

I was sincerely looking forward to watching this fledgling company grow into a bastion of ideas. But alas, my hoped were dashed.

There was such promise and optimism for this particular piece of hardware that I began to envision a new reality. A new reality where all of my hopes for immersion were tantalizingly close. My hopes have been flayed.

Within the past 3 months I finally have had enough with FB and quit using it (reasons being nubile idiots and FB policy and procedure regarding how they promote/monetize content). To think that FB now owns this is very disheartening.

I sincerely do not want to put my hopes in some other giant corporations ideas but it looks like we will all have to suffer that fate now. At least for the short term.

Soygen · Mar 26, 2014

Teekey_sl said:
The Kickstarter was really just to show there was interest so that they could attract Venture Capitalists. I mean, they got 2~ million on KS (however, they were only seeking 250k), and ended up getting over 100 million in VC cash afterwards (I believe).

VCs saw a huge and quick return on investment and jumped for it.

Yeah, everyone who "donated" on the Kickstarter received their dev unit already anyway, so it's not like Oculus owes them in any way.

Skanda · Mar 26, 2014

Valve should announce the VR goggles they've been working on now. They'd get quite a lot of attention just for not being Facebook at the moment.

Quineloe · Mar 26, 2014

Muligan_sl said:
What sucks about it is the fact it was crowd sourced/Kickstarted and they turned around and sold it. Pigs just want to get fatter.

Anyway... for your entertainment.

Does he always talk like that or did he have a stroke during the video?

Cinge_sl said:
If I was offered 2billion, I'd probably sell too.

the big problem basically is that a company like Facebook can afford to pay 2 billion for it.

Foggy · Mar 26, 2014

Quineloe_sl said:
Does he always talk like that or did he have a stroke during the video?

It is a character he plays.

Falstaff · Mar 26, 2014

The interesting take I read on this acquisition is that people are now seeing Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg's personal piggy bank where he can just go out and buy all this cool technology.

If you're a fan of VR technology, being given basically unlimited resources from Facebook is definitely a good thing. If you're a FB investor you're probably scratching your head right now, but I certainly see this as a more pertinent purchase than WhatsApp in the long run.

Tuco · Mar 26, 2014

Eyashusa_sl said:
The interesting take I read on this acquisition is that people are now seeing Facebook as Mark Zuckerberg's personal piggy bank where he can just go out and buy all this cool technology.

If you're a fan of VR technology, being given basically unlimited resources from Facebook is definitely a good thing. If you're a FB investor you're probably scratching your head right now, but I certainly see this as a more pertinent purchase than WhatsApp in the long run.

Wouldn't this be the first head-scratching purchase from facebook that would make people wonder? The whatsapp thing seems very similar to previous purchases.

Even if Facebook wanted to integrate VR into their social media empire I don't see the upside to buying the Rift at this point. I'd rather maintain some level of agnosticism toward the particular VR device than attempt to control it.

There's a lot of open questions about the purchase, most of which won't be answered until years from now.

Falstaff · Mar 26, 2014

I'm sure you can find a few head scratching purchases on this list:List of mergers and acquisitions by Facebook - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The upside is that you control some of the best and most promising VR tech out there. You also stop Google, Apple, and anyone else from buying it.

but I agree with you, this is a very long term purchase. Unfortunately most people just see the immediate and think that Facebook will turn this solely into a wearable, VR Facebook device and fuck over all the promising development aspects of the tech. I don't think you can make that assumption right now.

BrutulTM · Mar 26, 2014

Once we can vitually fuck our facebook friends I don't see why we would ever need to leave the house again.

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