Yesterday, Facebook announced its intention to acquire Oculus VR, the company behind the kickstarted virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift.
The acquisition will most likely occur in quarter two of this year for a tidy sum of 400 million in cash and 1.6 billion worth of Facebook shares as well as a further 300 million if certain unspecified aims are achieved.
In a statement on his facebook page, Zuckerburg announced:
“Oculus’s mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.”
“Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there’s a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We’re going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games.”
More interestingly, he stated:
“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.”
However, reaction from the gaming community has been mixed.
The well respected indie developer of Minecraft, Marcus Persson, announced that he had ended discussions with the Oculus VR team, saying that “Facebook creeps me out”.
Furthermore, many gamers have taken to twitter to express their discontent with the possibility of invasive data mining and a reduced focus on gaming, citing the kickstarted project’s tagline, “the first truly immersive virtual reality headset for video games.”
However, some gamers like Gamestop’s own Peter Brown have come to the defense of this agreement, saying that more cash flow will allow Oculus VR to accelerate their project, allowing the developers to take risks that were previously impossible.
Regardless, this is big news for gamers. With the recent announcement of the Sony developed project Morpheus, the future of the Virtual Reality, whether in gaming or otherwise, is looking very bright.