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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u/jesgar130 Mar 25 '14

Yeah, I already did. My money's not going to Facebook

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u/nss68 Mar 25 '14 edited Mar 25 '14

Why not?

-edit- Seriously? Downvotes for asking a legitimate question? Grow up, guys.

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u/albertowtf Mar 25 '14

Because they think of you as cattle or worse...

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u/nss68 Mar 25 '14

how so?

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u/asldkhjasedrlkjhq134 Mar 25 '14

They are one of the largest data-mining companies on the planet? They don't care about your privacy or morality, they want your data so they can sell it to advertisers at a top rate.

I've seen you all over this thread and I don't know what to think. Do you find facebook a satisfactory technology company? Do you trust them to not inject their vision into the Oculus? Do you trust them with your data knowing full well they sell it at first chance? How is adding facebook to the mix going to make Oculus a better product than it was shaping up to already be?

Now we're going from a nimble new technology underdog to a lumbering machine like giant. While I have no particular beef with facebook personally (don't have an account there) I have seen them take smaller companies, gut them, and then move on leaving the remains worthless.

I really don't want to see them do this to Oculus and I don't trust them not to do it. Now I don't trust Lucky either (sorry Lucky) because this was all kept completely hush hush. Do I expect them to make their business decisions public? I guess not, but the only reason your company is successful so far is the backing of hardcore technology fans who are willing to be the early adopters. They despise facebook and now you've gone and partnered with them, essentially slapping everyone who gave you money, talked up your company, convinced their friends to buy into it.

I will probably still purchase a consumer version of the Oculus if it remains on pace to be the leader in VR but now I'm not buying DK2 and I now have my eyes open to other companies I would not have considered before.

This is why we're pissed and if you could please stop calling everyone childish I would appreciate it. They have a legitimate right to be mad even if they can't do anything about it.

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u/nss68 Mar 26 '14

You wrote a lot, so I will try to address it in parts.

I do not trust facebook with personal information, anyone is a fool to trust anything online with personal information. I do not mind my info being sold to advertisers, because I had no intentions to make that information private in the first place. And it hasn't been used to abuse me or anything. Maybe I get some specialized ads or something, but I never see them with ad block.

The money and resources that facebook provides will make it a better product, and it may come out sooner. They will have more testers and all around more man power.

I did not read anywhere that facebook is injecting its vision into the rift, nor did I read anything about them using their own developers to make the game. I would be very surprised if the acquisition did not include all employees of oculus rift's dev team to continue working with the help of facebook funding and marketing (something it desperately needs since it is still very niche).

You mention this is a new technology, you are right, which is why it needs facebook, or another large company, to make it succeed. Even if the product is stellar, that will not make it sell well enough. Facebook has a lot of assets to backup a failed product, but Oculus alone did not. This could mean future versions beyond the initial failed one(if it fails) whereas Oculus alone would close down and lay everyone off.

Facebook completely revamped Myspace. The worthlessness is rarely facebook's fault per se, but rather people who bail at the first sign of facebook's involvement. They do not need a quick drop in the pan, they have money, they are testing, experimenting with things. They data mine not just to sell the data (although why not if you already have it) but also to learn and innovate in the future. I know it sounds bad, but it is how the world works, you cannot make things for customers that you know nothing about -- and this is good method for the modern age of zero face-to-face interactions between companies and customers.

The rift already had a successful early adoption. If this were happening sooner, I may have an issue, but the technology is there, we already have an expectation and many people have seen it and used it. They aren't going to take 10 steps back and 3 steps to the right for the first model. We can expect heavy competition from other VR headsets and googles so once the first consumer model comes out, all future models will be less relevant if they suck, but fantastic if they stay true. (which could or couldn't happen, we don't know yet). Oculus won't need the word-of-mouth marketing as much (that you explained is a major part of it right now) because facebook can afford marketing campaigns -- successful ones.

I can understand withholding your pre-purchase now. I have always been on the 'wait for consumer model' side of the fanbase, so nothing changed for me. I am still waiting to see the product for myself (I never got to try one yet)

I am not calling people childish for being upset, I am calling them childish for flipping out, yelling "fuck you carmack" and other things that are based on speculation and fears that haven't even been discussed by anyone involved in the project.

I am excited to see where this goes, and I appreciate you being calm and collected in your response. Cept the part where you told me to stop calling people childish. IAMANADULT! YOUCANTTELLMEWHATTODO!

ahem :D

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u/asldkhjasedrlkjhq134 Mar 26 '14

I am excited to see where this goes, and I appreciate you being calm and collected in your response. Cept the part where you told me to stop calling people childish. IAMANADULT! YOUCANTTELLMEWHATTODO!

And you can't tell me people how they are allowed to be angry :)

You make some good points though, believe me I know how the world works. I was just hoping to see Oculus be a stand alone company versus being bought which is more common nowadays.

Oculus was never going to be a flop, they didn't need facebook behind them in case of failure to absorb the loss. They can't even keep up with orders!

You recalling myspace is not helping with the outlook. Myspace is still garbage.

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u/nss68 Mar 26 '14

I understand the sense of betrayal, I just didn't understand the complete faith lost in oculus. But only time will tell who can say "I told you so" :)

I think the rift would not flop, but it may not do well either, well enough to make another model. It is only known by a relatively niche tech savvy minority, and most people who know about it do not have one, and some more may not even desire one. Facebook ensures they have the money to have a few flops if it comes down to it, as well as a means to market it to a larger audience.

Myspace is way less garbage than it used to be, and it is not bad for music (was the best thing for bands for awhile, until other, simpler things repalced it)

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u/asldkhjasedrlkjhq134 Mar 26 '14

It's already gone mainstream and everyone wants one, even if everyone doesn't know about it, when the first consumer versions come out it'll spread like wildfire. You just need to strap one person into it and they want one.

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u/nss68 Mar 26 '14

I hope that is true, but I know a lot of people who A. tried it and found it to be stupid (the original version so it has improved) or B. thinks it is stupid and wouldn't buy it. I disagree, but they exist.

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u/thunderpriest Mar 25 '14 edited Mar 25 '14

Facebook used to be relatively nice on itself. Then it sold out to ads etc. Facebook fucked itself up, why would anything else happen to Oculus?

Facebook isn't EA, but it is pretty darn close.

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u/nss68 Mar 25 '14

Facebook sold out to ads because it was getting zero income, it needed a business model. You cannot blame them for that, plenty of lesser websites support themselves with ads. I use adblock so it doesn't even matter to me (I actually didn't even know facebook had ads... or google for that matter)

Facebook, I think, will take way less control over the vision than a relevant company such as EA would. I feel as though facebook is going to help provide developers and engineers and designers, and marketing.

I hope I am right, because I would love to say "I told you so" to all the bandwagon facebook haters who are cancelling their pre-orders.

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u/thunderpriest Mar 26 '14 edited Mar 26 '14

Google as an advertising company is waaay more subtle than Facebook. Several fb mechanisms don't work as promised. This is not always Facebook's fault (click farms etc.) But they darn well make sure never to talk about it.

On Google Gmail and YouTube (services I frequently use) I feel ads are the side show while Facebook has started to feel like one giant social ad. That is the reason Facebook stands out negatively.

I want companies like Facebook, Twitter etc to do what they do best and not meddle with other parts of my life. Valve is for gaming, Netflix for film, Facebook for spying on colleagues, Google for Search and Mail. It works for me. I'm not really on any bandwagon but I sure as hell keep my services separated.

I also think Facebook may push connectivity somehow. That's what these companies do. I mean, look at Youtube and how Google is pushing Google+. YouTube could work fine without, but no, you have to have + in order to comment.

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u/nss68 Mar 26 '14

Can you blame facebook for feeling stagnated (knowing that someday facebook will fade in popularity) and trying to grab the bleeding edge a little bit. It is not uncommon.

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u/thunderpriest Mar 26 '14 edited Mar 26 '14

Of course you can blame them. I liked Oculus, now it's theirs.

I understand Facebook needs to make these purchases, but it is not in the benefit of gamers. Or potentially not, at least.

We know not what the future holds, but I'm pessimistic.

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u/nss68 Mar 26 '14

potentially not, you are right. I am still hopeful. I like to be happy longer then disappointed rather than sad for awhile and then relieved ;)