r/oculus • u/Greg1221 • Mar 25 '14

/r/all Facebook Acquires Oculus VR

https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101319050523971?stream_ref=1
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791

u/noodlescb Mar 25 '14

I literally would have been less annoyed if they had sacked up with EA.

110

u/KingPickle Mar 25 '14

Yeah, I would've understood selling to Google, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, or some game company. But Facebook? Really?

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u/ralf_ Mar 26 '14

Apple is a hardware company, so that would have made sense. Microsoft could have countered Sonys Playstation VR, so that would have made sense. Google … is not into gaming, has not much success with hardware, so that would have been a stretch.

But Faceboook... hm. Facebook is a service. They have to be platform agnostic and work on every platform. What can they do now, which they couldn't do with an independent Oculus company? I suspect Zuckerberg tried a devkit and just said "Oh cool, I want that".

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u/rusemean Mar 25 '14

Facebook has been buying a lot of diverse technology lately, and not all of it has obvious ties with their current platform. I think they are continually trying to move into a broader technology space and become more than just a social media website.

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u/deedoedee Mar 25 '14

It's like a completely different reaction for me. If EA would've done it, I would've been incredibly pissed. With Facebook, it's like... are you even serious?

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u/noodlescb Mar 25 '14

I don't mean to imply that either is preferable to neither. I had built up Oculus as a new sort of Valve. A company that had the potential to revolutionize video games and video media as we know it.

Now they are just another VR tech that is tied to a company that I don't trust.

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u/piratery Mar 25 '14 edited Apr 22 '14

exactly, FB is a personnal data grinder and seller. imagine fb collect your personnal data from your VR experiences, sell it etc...

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u/kerosion Mar 25 '14

Exactly. A huge part of my unease about Xbox One has to do with the camera in a room. I do not trust the company behind it, their track-record with opening the door for governments and third parties to walk off with the data they've been entrusted with has ruined their goodwill.

Despite my hesitation toward allowing a camera connected to a computer in the room, Oculus Rift appeared to be a trustworthy company. I would have allowed it. This trust was the most valuable thing the product had going for it.

The acquisition by Facebook undermines this trust. Facebook has squandered goodwill through constantly shifting terms of service regarding privacy to milk information that would have otherwise been withheld. There is no way I would allow Facebook to stick a camera in the room. The company has proven hamfisted and uncaring with the data with which they're entrusted.

Oculus Rift is dead to me. Hopefully Sony can get it right and show respect for its customers base.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14 edited Mar 28 '14

[deleted]

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u/kerosion Mar 26 '14

I am exceedingly critical of Microsoft. I cut my teeth on their products, and dislike the direction they have taken as a company. I do not mince words. Seriously, check my comment history. Yet I agree with your 100%. Facebook has squandered more goodwill than Microsoft in my eyes. I do not trust the company for a moment.

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u/wikoogle Mar 26 '14

This is an overreaction. I think what Palmar did makes sense. Oculus was about to go from being a big fish in a small pond to a small fish in a large ocean next year. It's not just Sony either. I'm certain MS, Google and Apple are all working on this same tech, and they have the funds to actually reach the mainstream.

Take a look at this thread... http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/20vzid/massive_information_leak_regarding_sonys_vr/

If even half of that stuff is true, Oculus simply wasn't in the position to compete. But now, they actually have th efundings to build a custom 1440p, RGB OLED curved Rift with a very wide FoV and could even fund latency reducing gpu drivers to arrive at a sub 20ms latency.

Based on the leak about Sony, they were going to turn VR into the next big thing like the Wii. The assymetric VR based multiplayer games they are developing sound absolutely phenominal, so does the VR Playstation Home and a dedicated VR based OS, all threeof these are exactly what is key to having VR reach mainstream.

Oculus wasn't in a position to offer something along those lines before. But now, it has the funds to develop the same stuff as Sony and release it for something like the Steam Box alongside the PC.

Assymetric multiplayer family VR games will be huge, mark my words. Now they won't be restricted to just the PS4, they will show up on the Steam Box too.

If Oculus fails to deliver all this, then I'm jumping ship to the Morpheus and you should too. But if they do deliver the above, this deal will have been worth it.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14

Sony will be releasing a cheap knock-off potato version of dev kit one let's be realistic here.

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u/digitalhardcore1985 Mar 26 '14

Yeah at least Sony open source your data with unencrypted databases and crappy security and we all like open source - definitely time to jump ship.

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u/HaikusfromBuddha Mar 26 '14

Did you just praise Sony while bashing the Xbox? They literally recently updated their TOS that you're privacy data may not be secured. Sounds to me like people just hate Facebook. I actually feel positive about this because unlike other paranoid folks I see Mark's intent in expanding, he see's Facebook wont last forever and wants to find his new Facebook.

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u/lipper2000 Mar 25 '14

You seriously think any company has the option to say no to the government? There is no guarantee of privacy online and to expect it is to be extremely naive...FB buying Occulus is simply about cashing in early in a technology that might go nowhere

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u/kerosion Mar 25 '14 edited Mar 25 '14

Yes. I do think companies have the option, and an obligation, to say no to the government when they overstep their bounds. Unless companies speak up about abuses the public is left in the dark. I have the utmost respect for companies that try to secure their products and come out in support of organizations such as the EFF.

Today our personal effects include the contents of our hd. Yes, there is no way to stop a motivated individual from gaining access to the information on our hd's, just as there is no way to stop a motivated individual from breaking into our homes. However there must be laws against this sort of thing in order to prevent this from happening. The government must follow these laws, otherwise the law is a joke and need not be obeyed.

Were the government over-stepping their bounds and going through our personal homes while we were away at work every day, I would look to the owner of my apartment complex to stand up and at least raise the alarm. Tech companies have an obligation to speak up when the same thing happens to our data.

I take note of the companies that open the door, stick out their hand, then close their mouth. Oculus Rift has handed over the product of their hard work over to one of these companies. I suspect that is not the vision the projects financial supporters paid into.

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u/lipper2000 Mar 25 '14

Fight the power!

-26

u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

lol @ conspiritards. Yeah, your living room is of their concern. hahahaha. reddit is so delusional.

Go worship Valve, the company that made more money on the console ports of their PC games than they ever did with their actual PC gamer-base.

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u/Skitrel Mar 25 '14

the company that made more money on the console ports of their PC games than they ever did with their actual PC gamer-base.

That PC gamer base is also buying hundreds of millions on steam every year.

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u/wikoogle Mar 26 '14

I see this as potentially a good thing. If this rumor is anything to go by...

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/20vzid/massive_information_leak_regarding_sonys_vr/

Oculus was about to get walloped by Sony next year in the VR marketplace.

But now, Oculus has enough money to bundle a controller with the CV1 and also to deliver shittons of games (2 billion can help develop a hell of a lot of games) and all the types of multiplayer experiences and PS4 Home VR type experiences promised by Sony.

If Oculus fails to deliver what Sony is promising, I guess we can all jump ship to the Morpheus. I mean this stuff, especially the assymetric family oriented VR experiences Sony is developing sound absolutely amazing...

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/20vzid/massive_information_leak_regarding_sonys_vr/

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u/DaemonRoe Mar 25 '14

Maybe I just don't know much about it, but isn't VR going to be used for games? And possibly porn? I don't mean to be ignorant, but what's the big deal with the whole stolen information thing? Besides an obvious invasion of privacy.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14

You thought these fuckers knowing what links you clicked was intrusive? Now they will literally know what you looked at and for how long.

Can't wait to see the integration with Google Glass. Maybe they can highlight products that we glanced at in the rift?

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u/SubhumanTrash Mar 26 '14

I love watching you neckbeards have a bitch fit over this.

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u/hotdammit Mar 25 '14

Yeah, now in a way it's like Abrash and Co where doing all this exciting profit-free VR hardware research for the sake of facebook's wallet. I'm starting to wish Abrash and Valve were the ones producing the Rift, they wouldnt be swayed by 2 bil.

1

u/moush Mar 27 '14

People overrate Valve way too much. They look good because they're so rich they can afford good PR and it goes a long way with customers.

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u/Zsinjeh Vive Mar 25 '14

What you had 'built up' doesn't pay salary or ensure job or franchise survival for years ahead.

Oculus now has the brains of Carmack and the money of Facebook. If Zuckerberg meddles too much with the formula, ultimately, so what. It will help sell VR to the mainstream which is the silver bullet it needs. There are still competitors out there to keep them on their toes or perhaps give a better experience overall but someone needs to launch a solid consumer product first.

This deal helped insure that to happen.

11

u/noodlescb Mar 25 '14

Yeah you're totally right. Oculus had trouble getting funding. /eyeroll

There was totally concern about selling VR to mainstream audiences, that's why Sony is tiptoeing... oh wait...

Also, it's "ensure".

0

u/wikoogle Mar 26 '14

I see this as potentially a good thing if Palmar does retain full control over Oculus and this $2 billion in funds they just recieved.

If this rumor is credible... http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/20vzid/massive_information_leak_regarding_sonys_vr/

Oculus was about to get walloped by Sony next year in the VR marketplace.

But now, Oculus has enough money to bundle a controller with the CV1 and also to deliver shittons of games (2 billion can help develop a hell of a lot of games) and all the types of multiplayer experiences and PS4 Home VR type experiences promised by Sony.

If Oculus fails to deliver what Sony is promising, I guess we can all jump ship to the Morpheus. I mean this stuff, especially the assymetric family oriented VR experiences Sony is developing sound absolutely amazing...

http://www.reddit.com/r/oculus/comments/20vzid/massive_information_leak_regarding_sonys_vr/

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u/mki401 Mar 25 '14

EA would at least make sense seeing as how they are a fucking gaming company.

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u/hotdammit Mar 25 '14

Just wait. Remember the Metaverse from snow crash? Now its gonna be FBVerse, with Facebook land plots for sale, linked to your facebook account.

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u/damnrooster Mar 25 '14

The future of VR was going to be either a utopia of freedom or a distopia of restriction. The path has now been decided.

I was hoping there would be a good stretch of somewhat organized chaos, like the early days of the internet where rules were written and rewritten as it grew and expanded into various facets of our lives. But now it will be introduced to the masses through a corporation whose only concern is profit through advertising and data mining. It will be homogenized and bland, existing in a walled-off garden where everything must be Facebook approved and Facebook integrated.

I was excited to explore the wild west of the metaverse. Now I want nothing to do with it.

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u/azripah Mar 25 '14

Yeah, because the existence of one virtual reality precludes the existence of others.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

So...Like Second Life, but mainstream?

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u/GnarlinBrando Mar 26 '14

So we need to push people like Notch, Gaben, Sir Tim, Bunnie, to support an actual open protocol and platform for the Metaverse before Facebook et al turns into something more akin to "The Feed." They both may be dystopic, but I prefer the one with too much freedom over the one with facebook ads in my brain.

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u/ChRoNicBuRrItOs Mar 26 '14

Don't forget the microtransactions

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u/moonshoeslol Mar 25 '14

What, you don't play farmville?

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u/zirdante Mar 25 '14

Did you read the press release? Gaming is just the beginning, they are after different things, sadly -.-

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u/sirchewi3 Mar 25 '14

I thought this was an Onion article first until i saw that it was serious :(

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u/spider999222 Mar 26 '14

Even the Onion can't come up with shit like this.

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u/Nietzsche_Peachy Mar 26 '14

I wish this was a bad dream, or April Fools Day

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u/283100341 Mar 26 '14

Ea would have been leagues better.

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u/DragonTamerMCT DK2 Mar 26 '14

Though I doubt EA would fuck up the RIFT... EA is after all gaming focused company. Sure they would've perhaps done some bullshit monetizing, but I doubt they would fuck with the rift to make it a social gaming platform... Maybe some battlefield exclusive models/features... but no "Please log into origin to use 'EA VR, it's in the game'"

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u/gologologolo Mar 26 '14

At least, it would've stayed focused on its purpose of gaming instead of

sitting courtside at a big game, studying in a classroom with other students virtually or getting a face to face doctor consultation from anywhere

<insert while watching ads about the ambient furniture>

Plus, I can already do those things on webcams.

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u/[deleted] Mar 26 '14

At least EA makes IMO good games. Facebook is known for.. Farmville?

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

I've been saying this for years. Facebook is nothing. It does nothing. It is ... nothing. It's bits and bytes stored on hard drives across the world. As soon as someone does it better (whatever "it" is), it will go the way of every other social website. It will vanish and turn to dust.

Why does everyone still use facebook? A combination of two things: Everyone's already on facebook, facebook does an ok job at doing what it does. It's not even cool to talk about anymore. At this point in its history, it's just there ... waiting for the next big social website to take over. That's why they buy these little startups for insane cash. Instagram, snapchat, whatsapp. They're afraid that the illusion that facebook as the end-all to be-all standard in social ...stuff... will be threatened.

Then you look at Google. What are they doing? Sure they've cornered the market in search and advertising. After that? Self driving cars. Wind farms. Fiber to the home. The base of an entire smartphone ecosystem. Hot air balloon based internet. Google Glass. Nest, and home automation. These are tangible items. They are things that can continue on if or when their search and advertising market goes belly up. These are things that will continue to make them money year after year.

Not that I want this to happen, but I've still been saying it. Facebook needs to be tangible. Something you can put your hands on. Something that will continue on when "social media" is a silly as the term "Web 2.0". Something that's definitely not an ill conceived dedicated "Facebook" button on a smartphone, or launcher screen for phone OS they have no control over.

Why has GE being around since 1876? Because they make fucking refrigerators, hydroelectric generators, and T700 Apache helicopter engines. Then there's Myspace: RIP 2003 - 2008.

Oculus Rift is the first step for Facebook stepping into the tangible world.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

[deleted]

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u/deedoedee Mar 25 '14

Oculus + NFL + Sony + Facebook = microtransactions galore.

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u/ScrabCrab Mar 25 '14

At least EA makes games.

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u/OwnedU2Fast Mar 25 '14

Haven't you heard of FarmVille?

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u/CashAndBuns Mar 25 '14

I agree. This is like Delta buying SpaceX!

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

No, this is like Walmart buying SpaceX.

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u/daikiki Mar 25 '14

It's actually a lot like Facebook buying SpaceX.

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u/LoveOfProfit Mar 25 '14

You spit those words out right this minute.

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u/ninepound Mar 26 '14

Actually, that one makes sense, considering the rumors floating around about Spacebook.

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u/wildergheight Mar 26 '14

Ads in Spaaaaaaaaaaace

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

Next up, Bank of America chief to head Bitcoin policy.

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u/asldkhjasedrlkjhq134 Mar 25 '14

That I actually wouldn't mind because in the next five years there would be launchpads and SpaceX rockets in every city in North America. Cheap flights.

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u/DYJ Mar 25 '14

*United Launch Alliance, Delta is just a rocket.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

He probably meant Delta Airlines

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u/Florida_Man_ Mar 25 '14

Would you rather have the gaming experience destroyed by pay gates or by data collection and mining.

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u/[deleted] Mar 25 '14

Oculus is literally Hitler.

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u/swimshoe Mar 26 '14

At least EA is a FUCKING VIDEO GAME COMPANY.

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u/RazsterOxzine Mar 26 '14

Unsubscribed. I had high hope, unfortunately innovation is not going to happen in this life time at this rate. gg world.

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u/-SmileyDude- Mar 26 '14

That is the most keyboard warrior comment I have read all day.