https://www.facebook.com/zuck/posts/10101319050523971?stream_ref=1 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/facebook-to-acquire-oculus-252328061.html Wow. I don't follow the Oculus community too closely, but they don't seem too happy about this (for obvious reasons). I'm still trying to digest it all.
I'm sure there plan was to sell the company as soon as they got a good enough offer. There is no way they could get the kind of reach and distribution to make up for the millions and millions of cost they have had the last couple years. It also opens up a more steady cash infusion to development. I'm sure they were more nervous that Sony was going to roll out their product with an install base that is in the millions. From Mark Zuckerberg:
Really wow. This company just made 1.99 billion dollars. I exaggerate, but this kid just turned his hobby into a 2 billion dollar payday. Only in America.
Ruined? It isn't a thing yet. It hasn't been released. If they had a major plan for it then they would not have sold it. I really really think selling it was the plan from day 1. They just needed to get it far enough along.
I was stunned at first at this acquisition news. Now, the more I think about it, the more I suspect you are correct. It's also worth noting that the Oculus began as a Kickstarter project. I wonder how the original backers feel about this news.
For old school gaming nuts, John Carmack of id/Doom fame is the CTO of Oculus VR. There are some really talented people working there.
Yeah, I don't know if I'm necessarily THAT surprised that Oculus wanted to get acquired, but I am surprised that Facebook wanted them (and that Oculus would sell to them I guess...sort of....I guess with $2B, I'm not that surprised). I think some might have figured they'd get bought out, but possibly by a gaming company. Valve, Sony, MS, maybe Nvidia/AMD, etc. With Facebook being in charge, I think people are now wondering what this means for VR and gaming. I doubt Facebook will change Oculus too much in the short-term, but their long-term strategy doesn't quite seem to align with what Oculus (or at least Oculus supporters) wanted. Yeah, Carmack seemed super stoked about VR a few years ago, and when I saw him leave iD for Oculus, it wasn't really that surprising. He seems really enthusiastic about this stuff. There are a couple of other talented people that joined Oculus as well, though their names escape me at the moment.
