March 25, 2014 by Paul Curtin
If were to you ask hardcore gamers and developers what they’re most excited about in the gaming world over the past couple years, you would think there would mostly be responses regarding the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. And while there’s still a lot of excitement over next-gen systems and games, what’s been making the biggest waves in the gaming industry has been the Oculus Rift.
Don’t know what the Oculus Rift is? Then you’re likely in the overwhelming majority, because up until a few hours ago, not many people who weren’t die-hard PC gamers did.
Originally getting its funding on Kickstarter, the Oculus virtual reality headset quickly took off and began gaining more and more believers with every person who used it. Turns out to the shock of everyone who invested in it, Facebook’s founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerburg, is also a huge fan. Such a big fan that he’s decided to use Facebook to acquire Oculus Rift for $2 billion.
Zuckerburg has released this official statement on his Facebook page, stating that Facebook will be leaving everyone in place at Oculus with the primary focus still being on gaming:
But this is just the start. After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home
Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate.
Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can’t wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.
This is obviously huge news, not just for gaming community, but all across the country considering the large acquisition fee. Pretty soon, even your mom and dad are going to know what Oculus Rift is… or at least have heard of it.
While this may be huge news to everyone today, gamers are split on how to react to this purchase, and a lot of the die-hard original supporters who helped fund Oculus on Kickstarter are outraged.
As you can see in the responses to Oculus founder Palmer Luckey’s official statement here on Reddit, people aren’t too happy about Oculus now becoming Facebook. Luckey has also been responding to the comments one by one and promising that they won’t be changing things up or integrating tons of ads:
I won’t change, and any change at Oculus will be for the better. We have even more freedom than we had under our investment partners because Facebook is making a long term play on the success of VR, not short-term returns.
A lot of people are upset, and I get that. If you feel the same way a year from now, I would be very surprised.
It’s unfortunate that the people who funded Oculus are now seeing the company go in a different direction than they had wanted. With Facebook being the evil information-stealing site that everyone can’t help but use, it’s uncertain where they’ll be taking Oculus in the future and how things will turn out.
But with Facebook likely not buying Oculus to kill it, the near-future should be pretty sweet for us gamers who will be able to get our hands on the product even sooner now along with a far bigger audience who can help push technology even further into the future… at least until Facebook screws it up. But then again, there’s always the new Project Morpheus that Sony is working on for the PlayStation 4 and Valve’s secret new headset.
