Oculus Rift Acquired by Facebook for $2 billion

Updated: March 25, 2014

Facebook has been on the move this year buying up major and upstart companies, the first of which shortly after the year’s start with WhatsApp, and now more interestingly they’ve acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion.

Oculus has been a rapidly growing VR company since it’s initial kickstarter campaign back in 2012, and has been the foremost development team in consumer VR technologies with over 75,000 developers already trying to get their hands on devkits. While Oculus has been primarily concerned with their VR technology’s uses in video games, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerburg has expressed a great deal of interest with the technology’s applications in social media.

“Oculus has the potential to be the most social platform ever,” said Zuckerburg. “Imagine not just sharing moments with your friends online but entire experiences”. Zuckerburg is looking at this as a long term investment for the ways consumer tech will grow in the coming years, and has stated that there will be no changes to the current Oculus team as “all the best and the brightest in the space already work there”.

Does this mean that in ten years time we can look forward to not just seeing pictures of our friend’s food and meals, but actually experience first person them eating it? We’ll just have to see what kind of future Facebook builds with the investment! Make sure to let us know your thoughts in the comments.

Source: Time

Sam

Well my care of Oculus Rift went to a zero
- Andrew
  
  I wouldn’t say to zero, but I am so unimaginably sad to see Oculus go to Facebook. I feel like the potential dropped to near zero. It would have been so much more without Facebook behind it. Also, Facebook bought WhatsApp for 17 billion, but thought the Rift was worth 1/8th of the price? I just don’t know what to think anymore man.
Dani Filth

Something like this is the reason why i don’t give my money to any kick starters
John Duke

*literally face-palmed by instinct as soon as i read the title.*

Weeeeeeeell @#$%! These “Facebook Visionaries” have a severe lack of vision if “social platforming” is what they’ve got in mind. Seriously, Now they’re going to shove a huge POS version of Google glass down our throats or somthing!? HOW THE HELL DOSE ONE BECOME PART OF A SOCIAL PLATFORM… WITH VR GOGGLES!? You’ve got to be sitting down to use these… Why not just use normal social platforms that we are so graciously spammed with!? They better mean social platform as in GAMES, LIKE THE OCULUS IS MEANT FOR! (and training purposes as well)… Bye bye my interest in the Oculus… cheap sellouts…

Facebook sucks btw.
SilentCid

Yes! I can finally play Farmville VR like I always wanted…Thanks Facebook!
steven

I was considering looking at getting a Rift when the consumer version came out but I we will just have to see what happens now. My hope is not entirely dead after watching Logan and Wendall on Tek Syndicate talk about it. I still don’t see it being a great direction for the Rift to go when there were so many other companies that could have bought it and pumped the money and technology into it that it needed. Like I said thought only time will tell and it really doesn’t look good.