back to article Facebook swallows Oculus VR goggle-geeks. Did that really happen?

Facebook has bought startup Oculus VR, which makes the much-hyped virtual-reality Rift headsets, for $2bn. The acquisition comes as people spend more time with their pals in digital worlds rather than the physical realm, and Facebook boss Mark Zuckerberg wants to tap into that shift. The acquisition of Oculus VR Inc was …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.

Page:

  1. Roj Blake Silver badge

    I had a go on a Rift a few weeks back and was sufficiently impressed to plan on buying one.

    But not any more.

  2. AbelSoul

    Facehat?

    1. Barticus
      Unhappy

      'Facehat?'

      More like Asshat.

  3. imanidiot Silver badge

    Facebook is dying, and it's dragging many companies down with it

    This seems to be nothing more than an attempt still appear relevant and "going strong" to investors and shareholders. There have been many many examples of companies doing this. Things have been going decent, MASSIVE amounts of shareholder money are available, but the outlook begins to falter. To keep the shareholders happy the company starts buying up other bussinesses to keep up the appearance of growth. This works for a while (Usually while the CEO and board are stuffing their pockets to breaking point) and then the companies implodes. If this happens to Farcebook (And I have no doubt it is going to implode within the next 5 to 10 years) it'll take Oculus down with it.

    Goodbuy Oculus, we hardly knew you.

    Also, from the comments in every message I've seen about it, it appears the ENTIRE target demographic went: "Well, up yours too then!" upon hearing of the news. I've yet to see a single positive message from anyone who would consider buying a VR set.

    1. imanidiot Silver badge

      Re: Facebook is dying, and it's dragging many companies down with it

      And of course I notice my typo AFTER the edit time has elapsed. Really, past me: "Goodbuy"??

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Can anyone say bubble?

    1. dogged

      Could be worse. Could be Bublé.

  5. Gary Riches

    I've been working on and off on paid Oculus Rift prototypes for companies for around 6 months now. None of them have been for games, all of them have been for "experiences". I have never really seen the Rift as gaming hardware.

    The technology hasn't just changed over night, it's still the same hardware. The same things will be able to be created.

    People need to try and apply some common sense. 3D Facebook? Of course not. Rift Facebook Games? No.

    The Rift takes a while to set up, get on and it messy with all the cables. It's not something you'll want to put on just to play a 3 minute game.

    Getting good content is hard, it either requires good 3D guys or expensive stereo 360 cameras. Facebook can help make this happen. Virtual museum tours (something I had worked on) will now be much more plausible, as will the other experiences Zuck mentions.

    1. Brangdon

      And adverts. Don't forget the adverts.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "The same things will be able to be created."

      I'll have to wait for someone else to create them. Everybody has some a few "do not cross" lines. Adding in any way, shape or form to facebooks revenues, or using their services happens to be one of mine, and I doubt I'm unique in that.

      1. Gary Riches

        Can you explain why that is? It's a pretty string opinion you have, which is fair enough, but where has it come from?

      2. Vociferous

        Fake accounts are (still) legal, and Facebook doesn't try to check your credentials. So, register a handful of reasonably legit-looking Facebook accounts while it's still legal, you will need them in the future.

      3. DropBear

        I'll have to wait for someone else to create them

        You're not alone with that attitude. I really liked Oculus, but now it's dead to me, period.

  6. Irongut

    Oh well

    No chance of me ever buying an Oculus Rift now. Hopefuly John Cormack will go back to id and write some more games.

  7. Robin Bradshaw

    Have you all seen....

    For everybody who has posted here citing their dismay at this purchase have you considered looking at CastAR from technical illusions http://technicalillusions.com/

    They are currently in development and I believe their kickstarter is slated to ship the first hardware some time after September this year.

    The demonstrations of tabletop multi-person 3D play were enough to persuade me I want this.

    1. Gary Riches

      Re: Have you all seen....

      Second this. Great bit of kit. I've backed it and will use it along side Oculus Rift for different development scenarios.

  8. defiler

    It's like someone just shit in Santa's socks

    Hopefully it'll still get built.

    Hopefully it'll still be good.

    Hopefully it'll still get games support.

    Hopefully it'll not be too expensive.

    Basically, "Hopefully <all the things that were hopeful before>".

    At the same time, it just feels dirty having such an insidious brand as Facebook involved now. And what will they do with the info coming out of it - who knows? (Who knows what info will come out?)

    The biggest thing that pisses me off, though, is the Kickstarter. Nope, I didn't pledge (although I came close). For those who did pledge, they get a nice "We're $2Bn better off, kthxbye", which looks a bit like a kick in the balls with a smile attached. They didn't pledge money for Facebook to get a hold in the market. They pledged for an independent company to develop something cool.

    Splitting hairs? Perhaps. But it leaves a nasty taste to me.

  9. Zot

    Dull.

    The Oculus is no longer cool. And I expect they'll have to change it's name to something more fitting a Facebook user's IQ. They'll probably call it the FaceFace!...Yay.

    There does seem to be a worrying trend of tech companies just not willing to push themselves, almost as if they're scared or incapable. Waving cash in their faces makes their backbones fall out their arses.

    But we don't know what kind of contract they have with Farcebook.

    It probably isn't a real problem, but I can't help a massive feeling of disappointment in the team.

  10. James Hughes 1

    Confused

    Almost all the comment above are how Facebook has ruined Occulus, and put the VR industry back.

    Where is the evidence? Do you all have crystal balls? NONE of the commentators have ANY IDEA what Facebook with do with Occulus. So how anyone can says it's ruined is beyond me.

    For all you people know, they could leave the company running as is, pump more money to accelerate development, use the device on Facebook but also let it be sold as a general purpose headset. The effect may be you get your super cool VR headset earlier than previously expected. You may never need a Facebook account to use it, the money may mean even better tech.

    You JUST DONT KNOW.

    1. TitterYeNot

      Re: Confused

      Us commentards don't have crystal balls here at el Reg, we just have what Dilbert would call 'an accurate worldview'...

    2. Pascal Monett Silver badge

      Re: You JUST DONT KNOW

      Yes we do. We have largely enough data on Facebook history to know exactly where this is going.

      If it gets to store shelves, you won't need to sign in to Facebook, you'll be plugged in automatically. You will, of course, have a sign in option for those who are stupid enough to think that it is a good idea to tell The Zuck and his minions that this new online thingy belongs to someone who you already know everything about, but I'm sure Zuck's minions will find a way to correlate their records without your help.

      Oh, I'm sorry, you didn't realize that the Foculous is going to phone home ? Oh but it will, because it's Facebook and Facebook means ads and personal information harvesting. And that means that El Zuck will watch what you're watching while he's watching you, to "better" serve you ads.

      And you can bet the Foculous will be dirt cheap - gotta get them ad views in somehow.

      El Zuck must be sporting a heavy one right now, bitch.

      I feel so sorry for Carmack. What a way to end one's career.

    3. MrXavia

      Re: Confused

      Upvotes vs Downvotes....

      If you take the average reg reader as a likely first user of the Oculus, then if the comments & voting is anything to go by, people here hate the idea of anything Facebook owned, and by that simple connection will not be buying it, meaning the initial users, where you could sell many thousands at a highish price, and even with bugs still existing, have vanished, and you now have to aim at the 'non-techie' market.. which basically sony will win.. because those people don't know any better, and want something they can use with their games console...

      I was planning on buying myself a Rift, no longer, I now plan on building my own VR headset once I can source the parts and then publishing the how-to and making the code open source...

  11. Zot

    They already had $75m venture capital.

    How do they think companies actually start? Well, they could try and have an actual product.

    Anyway, here's the busy Palmer with some interesting defence:

    http://www.reddit.com/user/palmerluckey

  12. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Thats life unfortunately

    No point losing any sleep over it - im quite pissed off that the OR upstart has sold his soul to the devil. I hoped he might have more strategic foresight and commitment to his product and the community it has fostered over the last 18 months or so....but no...money talks, and when youre 20 years old instant cash always wins over what might be the right thing in the long term

    This surely ranks as one of the biggest potential losses to the gaming world.

    I only hope Sony's Morpehus can match the latest Rift in terms of performance before its finished - id rather they had my cash than Zuckerberg.

  13. RCListening....

    2BN for what....

    So it's not main stream, it's not publicly launched, it's not backed by the big gaming companies, not backed by large electronics companies (TV's etc), next gen consoles just launched, 4k bendy tvs just launched, the world is more social than ever... and big zucker thinks putting on a full face mask is what people want? because that's really social... want to watch the game i'm playing oh sorry cant do that...

    This device is for the ultimate recluse that wants to live in nothing but a VR. #FAIL - i'm so social...

  14. Pascal Monett Silver badge
    Headmaster

    "Imagine [...] studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world"

    And what exactly would that bring me ? How is that going to add value over showing me what it is I'm supposed to be studying ?

    Apparently The Zuck thinks that everyone in the world wants to be seen doing something, or that everyone is a 12-year-old that has to do everything with his schoolmates. It might be a selling point for the 12-year-olds, but for adults I don't see any interest in being put in a virtual classroom.

    The point of the Internet is to bring the information you're looking for directly to you, on your screen. It is not to put a virtual town hall between you and what you need to study. The days of going to University and sitting ten yards from the board are not interesting when you use computers. Only a narcissistic show-off can find it more interesting to be viewed studying than actually studying.

    This sentence does, however, reveal a lot as to how Facebook is going to pervert the system. Whatever you look for, be ready for a wave of user names flooding the screen with the possibility to "Like" every one of them. I wonder how you'll actually be able to see what you're looking for ?

    For that matter, I wonder how much bandwidth this thing is going to need ?

  15. PatientOne

    My one concern is this business of 'adverts'. Do they intend to stream adverts to the Rift to be displayed over whatever virtual environment you're viewing. Imagine playing the likes of WoW or EOS and having some soda pop advert appear before you. It would ruin the imersion of the game, and make having a rift utterly pointless.

    Leave the adverts out and I might consider it. Keep them in and I'll find something else for 3d imersion.

  16. Piro Silver badge

    All you need to know is in this image...

    http://i.imgur.com/ZuIOr9e.jpg

    When anyone says Oculus wanted to join with Facebook, the proof, once again, is above this line, that they had no original intention of such a thing.

    Purely for the money and not for the good of VR.

  17. Vociferous

    7 promises from a co-founder of Oculus.

    Palmer Luckey has apparently answered questions on Reddit (of all fucking places), and made a number of promises. Basically he says the things everyone wants to hear, but as a commenter points out, he's no longer in a position to make promises, and anyone who believes Facebook wont try tie-ins with the Oculus probably already owns a number of bridges.

    Anyway, read for yourselves; http://time.com/38366/here-are-7-promises-oculus-has-made-after-getting-bought-by-facebook/

    Fuck.

  18. Grimster
    Facepalm

    Zuck: They "trust me"

    Zuck: Dumb fucks.

    That is all.

  19. Adam Foxton

    I was as horrified as any of you

    Not least because I donated to the Kickstarter and got nothing from this.

    But they'll add facebook to some games. Sooo... Isnt this going to be a software thing to fix? I mean people crack copy protection out of games all the time.

    If not, then its back to my eMagin z800 headset with me!

Page:

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like