Facebook buys Oculus Rift for 2 Billion.

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/facebook-to-buy-oculus-rift-for-2-billion-2014-3

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Hope you like VR ads.

What a waste of money.

Regardless of how valuable the investment may be, 2 billion is just too much.

I don't see this working out well for anyone involved. Facebook bought it for too much, and I have no reason to believe they know what to do with it

Oh for fuck's sake.

So what happens to all the people who kickstartered OR? Do they get their money back?

Also RIP Waifu Age. Killed before it even had a chance to start.

edited 25th Mar '14 3:17:43 PM by Thorn14

Facebook bought the OR?

Can you say NSA spying?

TBH, I'm ok with that.

But seriously, I'm still trying to understand what a social networking site would want with a VR tech. They say something about continued innovation, but that's pretty damn vague.

John Carmack now works for Mark Zuckerberg

Say that out loud.

edited 25th Mar '14 3:31:31 PM by Thorn14

And the first game related thing to OR gets cancelled: Goodbye Minecraft for OR!

Say goodbye to all your virtual reality fantasies.

Eh, There's Project Morpheus to make up for it.

On a closed Sony platform.

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

Post from Notch about this.

Soon, your retinal scans & associated meta data will be in the hands of this person.◊

edited 25th Mar '14 4:42:46 PM by Thorn14

...why? What's Facebook's interest in this?

Mark said something about visiting the doctor through VR, and such.

So, things that defeat the necessity to leave your home. For social purposes.

edited 25th Mar '14 9:04:40 PM by Alucard

Facebook's a public company, right? And the Facebook side of things will eventually start declining, bringing down the stock price? So acquire a new upstart so that when (though really if) it breaks out they have something to keep the stock price up.

What? Isn't it baldly obvious that they're going to use it to mold the VR market and craft VR ads in a shameless but doubtlessly-successful attempt to invade the lives and privacy of individuals even further for the sake of making a buck at our expense?

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/facebook-oculus-vr-2-billion/

Whelp, thats end of that thing xP

Never really was interested in virtual reality stuff, but its pretty sad to see people's dream crushed

This could either be nothing in the end, or it could be very bad for everyone.

Hey, another reason to be happy I stopped using Facebook months ago!

I'm pretty sure there's not going to be a lot of advertising on the thing anytime soon, not until VR is popular.

And wearable tech is still in its very early stages.

I think Facebook is gambling on a longshot; VR doesn't really have enough benefits to be more than a novelty

Not yet.

It doesn't really matter whether Facebook manages to integrate ads next week or next decade. The trouble is that it will definitely happen if Oculus Rift succeeds, and moreover that if Oculus Rift succeeds, it will likely be a large part of the future of VR. In any case, Facebook wouldn't lose much by attempting to create ads for VR even if the market remained small for a time, because the actual price of creating ads, at least the simple ones, is increasingly small. At least that's based on my own understanding of the current online advertising market.

Anyway, in related news: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/technology/facebook-to-buy-oculus-vr-maker-of-virtual-reality-headset.html

edited 25th Mar '14 10:15:43 PM by darksidevoid

Absolutely Disgusting.

Our best case scenario we have now is OR remains a mostly open platform with a bunch of stupid Facebook shit we can uninstall / hack, like Android. But Mark said they aren't interested in solely just hardware sales so we might see Facebook make a closed garden instead. Who knows, its all mind boggling.

Of course, what really makes me the most sad is that gaming will likely no longer be the main focus of the Rift, since there is no money (or at least, 2 Billion) in catering to the hardcore gamer crowd.

You know, the people who helped FUCKING GET OCULUS RIFT TO THIS POINT.

edited 25th Mar '14 10:22:12 PM by Thorn14

No. The best case scenario (and the scenario that is going to happen) is that they leave the Rift as it is. They're not that fucking stupid. The fact that people think they are pisses me off royally. Facebook has a history of buying companies and letting them run pretty much autonomously (Instagram, Whats App). So why don't we wait and see what happens before jumping to conclusions, yea?

^. For fuck's sake, people.

Both of those purchases were already in line with Facebook's company line. (Social Interaction)

This is a Social company buying out a hardware company that was making a very niche product.

Zuckerberg himself even said they aren't going by Hardware sales alone, which would be the "leaving it alone" aspect.

"As for exactly how Facebook will monetize Oculus, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on the call to investors, "We're clearly not a hardware company. We're not going to try to make a profit off of the hardware long-term...but if we can make this a network where people are communicating, and buying virtual goods, and there might be ads down the line...that’s where the business could come from."

Also, you don't buy something for 2 Billion and just let it do its own thing. Sure, OR might be able to continue what it wants for now, but if the shareholders start demanding something else, guess what, thats gonna happen because Facebook is now the owner of the Rift 100%.

There is zero evidence Facebook is even slightly interested in hardcore gaming that the Oculus Rift promised. For all we know we are going to be seeing a shift from virtual worlds and new immersive gameplay into...Playstation Home Facebook Edition.

edited 25th Mar '14 10:53:31 PM by Thorn14