Facebook bought Oculus? :(

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matt
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Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by matt »

It's a little early for April Fools, so I guess this is a thing now. Does that make anyone else much less excited about the platform? I feel like Facebook is going to ruin it to further their misguided efforts to stay relevant with the increasing focus on mobile. Oculus doesn't seem like a good match for social gaming at all...

Coming soon to an Oculus near you: Farmville!
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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RightClickSaveAs
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by RightClickSaveAs »

Wow, that's not something I would have seen coming. It seems like a bizarre choice.

The first thing that popped into my head is visions of rooms full of people wearing Oculus Rifts sitting silently and motionlessly, "interacting" with other people.

I shouldn't be such a curmudgeon I guess, I'm on the computer all the time myself as it is, which is almost as bad :D
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matt
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by matt »

I guess Facebook realizes they missed the boat on mobile and is trying to buy the next big thing... The strange thing is that Oculus already had $100 million in investment. How many employees do they have? 30? 40? 100? Did they really need $2 billion from Facebook to get their product out? Are they sure Facebook's interest will always align with high end VR gaming?

I also thought notch's comment in his post about canceling Oculus Minecraft was really interesting:
And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.
I'm sure the $100 million investors are so happy they were able to cash out quickly, but those who supported Oculus might not be happy with their current direction.

Don't worry! I won't cash out on Infinitap for $2 billion! My price is $3 billion. :-P
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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gagaplex
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by gagaplex »

I was a bit sad that I missed out on Oculus at the time. Guess I'm a little less sad now. This really doesn't sound good.
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JPrice
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by JPrice »

I imagine it must be a bit of a downer for the people who invested lots of money into the headset itself and projects that were involved with Oculus. Having a major organisation such as Facebook involved is bound to have some profound changes on the policies, focus and ideals of the machine. I suppose it's not going to be focused on just the gaming experience any more but a more universal device, maybe more leaning towards mobile platforms.

It's easy to see why so many people are upset by the news as they're probably going to get something completely different from what they initially wanted/expected. I suppose it's too early to call really, more than likely they will take over and shift focus but you never know maybe they'll help them push towards reaching a wider audience whilst still maintaining everything that people expected out of the machine initially. Then again maybe that's just the optimist in me talking hahaha :D
"Always look on the bright side of life"
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matt
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by matt »

There is also this distressing news from the New York Times:
According to a person involved in the deal who was not allowed to speak publicly because he was not authorized by either company, Facebook eventually plans to redesign the Oculus hardware and rebrand it with a Facebook interface and logo.
That is giving me flashbacks to the Facebook phone. Maybe they'll leave it alone and just be a resource to the Oculus teams, but rebranding it seems like they are basically using a hot platform to make people think facebook is cool again whilst destroying all the good will with game developers Oculus has built up... Maybe that's just the pessimist in me, but if that proves to be true, it seems like a gross misstep.

That being said, Facebook has basically left instagram alone, which doesn't makes any sense since they essentially are running two competing social networks. I don't understand the appeal of either Instagram or WhatsApp, but it seems like both could easily be folded into facebook. Maybe they will be some day. Who knows!
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
Harry Sunderland
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by Harry Sunderland »

As someone who works in analytics, I find Facebook gross and creepy. The only reason I even use one is because it's the new aol instant messager for my friends.

I keep reading that Facebook is good for occulus, but I can't get past the fact that Facebook is a data collection service. When you have a Facebook page, you're not the consumer, you're the product. And I have difficulty connecting Facebook to occulus without remembering "where" fb gets its revenue. They did not buy occulus to get into the hardware biz, and they are not a charity or an RnD think tank.

Perhaps I'm being dramatic, but im no longer as enthusiastic about occulus as before.
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matt
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Re: Facebook bought Oculus? :(

Post by matt »

I think that is a reasonable response and a lot of people feel the same way. Fortunately, Oculus isn't the only company that has an interest in the success of VR, so even if they go in a bad direction, I think Valve will partner with someone else and make something kick ass.
-Matt Gilgenbach
Lead Frightener at Infinitap Games
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