How Facebook's Oculus Buy Changes Future of Rift, VR

[Alec Mowat]

Anybody who saw Sony's VR product knew that something had to give. They needed a big name behind them that really had the financial backing to make a great product. I don't see this as a bad thing really. Facebook is boring, but Mark just got a little cooler in my book with this acquisition.

It's Facebook's business model that concerns me. Data collection. I think they are trying really hard to get a product they can use to get into the tech industry, and this is just fringe enough.

Hopefully half the office doesn't wake up to a notice and an escort out of the office.

 

[tupoun]

I sincerely hope it won't be something like: "Sign to your Facebook account to be able play games", or "You are using Oculus, do you want to check our partner's special offers? Did you check on your Instagram recommended pictures? Make a Facebook account, it will vastly improve your experience with Oculus", every damned five minutes. Or just "By purchasing and using Oculus you voluntarily agree, that we can use all your personal information for our own benefit and thus you also implicitly agree with us sharing of such an information with our business partners to be able to provide you with the best experience you can ever experience. It's not spying, we love you and thank you! Please click at the "I agree" button."

 

[SIDWULF]

this is weird. They better leave Oculus and PC gaming alone. I want a device specifically made for PC gaming...not Facebook or social apps...

 

[nitrium]

It's weird, but now I don't think I want one. Just this awful sinking feeling... I was super pumped for one before this news. This must surely be a real kick in the nuts for their Kickstarter supporters, who just literally made the devs 100's of millions of dollars BEFORE getting an actual product from said devs. I'm actually kinda surprised this is even legal - i.e. pawning off a Kickstarter funded project to a 3rd a party. If nothing else, it's a huge breach of trust imo.

 

[DrBackwater]

FACEBOOK, purchased oculus rift!! you say what. great for funding and all, but is that some joke.Please ashton Kutcher over at Lenovo, save oculus rift.Man, did I just wake up with cake on my face, or is every one booking for the new oculus rift.Total blasphemy. google glasses is bad enough, but facebook and candy crush with advertising and all while having interment moments with the oculus rifts just unacceptable.We are doomed.John Carmack now works for Facebook. We're now living in bizarro world.Ceo of zengas some traitor from micrsoft.Whats going on lol.

 

[ttcboy]

How i wish today to be 1st of April more then anything else.

 

[TheDane]

This just makes me sad.

 

[shriganesh]

Damn those ADs!! FB and Google never seem to leave ADs alone! Even for once.

 

[qlum]

I'd much rather see a google buyout then this, google so far as a pretty good record of pushing tech under their wings and the best part is once it works they are willing to open it up for other manufacturers to create some much needed competition. Sure google isn't all good but on this area they are much better then facebook.

 

[nekromobo]

R.I.P. occulus rift. Hopefully Sony will get this sorted out.

 

[cats_Paw]

Let me get this straight:This starts off with kickstarter. Gets a lot more money than the target. Then, some other companies hop on the train, adding some more cash. Finally, the owner figures out "Time to sell and profit from the money of others".In theory, everyone who put money into the kickstarter is a shareholder of that company.Welcome to the new ways to get cash from people, and so far, deliver nothing in return.As for facebook takng over, if they decide to run things, we are screwed.Facebook games are mindless crap. I do belive it speaks very badly about our race that somany people play them.If I was one of the supporters of the kickstarter, you can bet your ass I would file a Civil action Lawsuit (i think its called that name) for fraud (In kickstarter you say "Im going to do A with your money", you cant change that for "Im going to sell the idea you paid for".And the good news: With 2 billion there a lot of room to get back your investment, apart from other things like paying taxes from the 2 billion, and also Im assuming fraud is punished by the government? Well... Im assuming none of this will happen anyway.The funny part is that when i learned about this project I felt a bit guilty by not suppporting something that I belived was a great Idea. Now I feel like I was smart enought to remmber that You cant trust anyone with anything in this world. So, yeah, Have a nice day.

 

[c123456]

I was never interested in the Oculous Rift before, and now even less. But I'm actually kinda glad this happened now. Perhaps game developers will realize their time could be better spent elsewhere than working on another, entirely different, platform.

 

[Afrospinach]

Yep, the whole kickstarter aspect is what really bothers me here. I really did not see this coming, and I really doubt it is what the majority of backers had in mind at the time. Oculus had some very well respected people on board that no doubt pulled in some cash. Still, it is money in a pit this kickstarter business. They are not even obligated to deliver.

 

[everlast66]

B-E-T-R-A-Y-A-LThis is the end of Oculus Rift for me. I can already imagine having to log into FB to use the set or the FB logo on the side. Yuk! What started as a publicly funded effort to bring gaming and VR to the next level ends being bought out by the nastiest companies out there (apart from EA). How do peoples (Palmer Luckey) values change in 18 months... **searching sony morpheus for the pc**

 

[maximus8100]

I was super excited about Oculus but after this news not so much. I can see you having to tie your FB account just to use it. No thanks. Will see what Sony does with there VR headset. Very disappointing. I hate everything you have to login to FB just to use. Thats all FB does is data mine and sell it to the highest bidder.

 

[Super_Nova]

As Yoda once said:"No. There is another". The Glyph looks kinda promising.

 

[Tony Casagrande]

Bwahahahahahahaha... cry some more. Like I was ever going to wear one of those obnoxious things on my head anyway.

 

[timaahhh]

I really don't think it makes a huge difference to be honest... Oculus is just a peripheral maker. The content is going to be the most critical and if facebook tried to tie the content delivery to facebook... No Bueno

 

[daekar]

Annnnd I'm no longer interested in this. Sony, my money is yours.

 

[kilion]

What a sad turn of events. My condolences to the gamer community.R. I. P.

 

[icemunk]

You do realize the kickstarter was actually people buying DevKits right? And they delivered those DevKit. Facebook is keeping Oculus as an additional company, that will run seperately; so essentially they are just pumping a ton of money into the project, which will help them get better displays, tech, etc. It's going to still be the amazing tech we are all expecting.

 

[Wisecracker]

I can't really say I'm surprised. I've been riding the 3D train for quite some time. Promising tech/software seems to always get gobbled-up, broken apart or taken private. I still have high hopes for the OR and the future of VR. Don't zuck it up, FB (It's a joke!)

 

[onichikun]

I understand the business perspective of this deal, but I am not a fan of Facebook. Facebook seems to infect whatever they touch with stupid. I will not support Facebook. Oh well, there are competitive products out there.

 

[gm0n3y]

I'm looking at this as Facebook desperately trying to buy a Google Glass competitor.

 

[knowom]

Regardless of my disdain for Facebook and I have serious health concerns regarding VR and Oculus because it must weigh a fair amount. Even smartphones and tablets are health concerns due to their weight this looks to be the case even more so because neck problems are very debilitating.