Heaven Angel Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Facebook has just announced that it's buying Oculus Rift for $2 billion. Seriously. "Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," Facebook founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg says. "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate." Oculus are equally chuffed. "We are excited to work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world," Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR says in a PR release. "We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning." The deal is made up of around $400 million in cash payouts, with the rest being made up of Facebook shares. It's not a done deal yet; it's expected to be finalised in Q2 2014. http://kotaku.com/facebook-buys-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-1551487939 Here's a full statement from Mark Zuckerberg: I'm excited to announce that we've agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology. Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we're in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences. This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you're actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it's different from anything they've ever experienced in their lives. Oculus's mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences. Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won't be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there's a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. 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. But this is just the start. After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home. This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures. These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people. Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solitaire Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Hello Mafia Wars and Farmville VR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shadoken Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Booooooo ... project morpheus will save us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heaven Angel Posted March 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 Patiently waiting for Valve's VR._Also, Hello Mafia Wars and Farmville VR Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sach4life Posted March 25, 2014 Report Share Posted March 25, 2014 That was out of nowhere :/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kemosabe Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 hmmm..if Facebook can generalize the virtual reality and make it usable by any tom -dick n harry , it will be the biggest push for entire virtual tech thing which companies like Sony and Microsoft can just dream about. I am not excited but optimistic about the future of Virtual Reality.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
WMWM Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Seems like a huge preparation for April fools day. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CarbonCore Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 The dream is dead, what a shitty news to wake up to. John Carmack how could you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solitaire Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SRINI87 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Wtf :X Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aftrunner Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 What a utterly bizarre purchase. Ah well RIP OR. It could have been something special. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolfy among us Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I can hear OR developers shelving their projects and crying in a corner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playstation Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I can hear OR developers shelving their projects and crying in a corner. sony bhi toh bana reha hai....they can develop for sony ka VR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Wolfy among us Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 sony bhi toh bana reha hai....they can develop for sony ka VR. They have to start from scratch, coz pretty sure the code base will be different. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
playstation Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 They have to start from scratch, coz pretty sure the code base will be different. Yes they might have to rework on their projects again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ALPHA17 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 They have to start from scratch, coz pretty sure the code base will be different. Hardware is different too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Elessar Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 Kickstarter project for a game called Frog Fractions 2 added a a new stretch goal - '$2 Billion - Buy Oculus back from Facebook' It's currently at $ 42k, so keep your fingers crossed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HundredProofSam Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 I think this could be a good thing. While the Rift is getting all sorts of good press, there isn't a whole lot of support coming from game publishers just yet and there's a danger of it going to the 3D way. I think Facebook's support and financial backing could actually give VR a legitimate chance of getting big players on board. Sure, it would have been nice to have Minecraft VR, but what you really want is Assassin's Creed VR to make people sit up and take notice, and Ubisoft is very non-committal towards VR just now. I mean this is Ubisoft, who'll throw their support behind anything new; however crappy or doomed for failure it may be. Like the Wii U Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 ^^+1 what's up with all the negativity ? Do you think an indie company like oculus would be able to scale up to deliver this kind of product for the general masses ? I don't think so. This would have just ended up as an expensive niche good to have toy and ultimately might have just died in the face of competition from Sony or similar high profile vendor.... FB acquisition gives it brand recognition and hopefully more developers will take it seriously considering the financial and marketing muscle of fb....IMO this is a good thing for VR in general and the company in particular ! Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ne0 Posted March 26, 2014 Report Share Posted March 26, 2014 ^^ that guy is being paranoid if you ask me.... Sure fb might integrate some aspects of VR into their platform, but I don't think they'll let it wilt away with farmville'esque games.... Also this guy notch, was he really expecting oculus to sustain operating with dollars from donations mainly by enthusiasts ? FB deal might go either way for the future of VR, but without a strong financial backbone, the company would have had a hard time sustaining itself.... Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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