Facebook to buy Occulus Rift :/

Looks like Facebook is lately in the business of making people billioanaires over night. With the possible exception of Instagram, these last purchases look like black holes. At 100$ in profit per unit (which is pushing it) they need to sell 20m of them to break even - crazy.
 
VR comes in and out of fashion but never really goes anywhere.

I'd have taken the money too - Chances are it'll be a brief fad, just like 3D TV.
 
OhEsEcks said:
Because it was extremely expensive and not very good. Both the opposite of what the OR is.
Click to expand...

I'm not convinced. Can you imagine sitting in your lounge with a set of these on?

3D TV was the same, you all put on a set of bulky specs and a lot of the social experience of being in a room together was lost as you were blinkered on one task.
 
Minstadave said:
I'm not convinced. Can you imagine sitting in your lounge with a set of these on?

3D TV was the same, you all put on a set of bulky specs and a lot of the social experience of being in a room together was lost as you were blinkered on one task.
Click to expand...

I don't get what point you're making when you say you're not convinced in response to my answer. It's been proven to be better than and cheaper than previous attempts at VR.

And OR isn't about a social experience of being in a room together. It's about virtual reality and immersing yourself further into the world you're supposed to be in. What Facebook intends to do with it in that regard, we'll have to wait and see.
 
Judgeneo said:
Facebook are spending serious amounts of cash acquiring companies that are currently loss making, especially considering they have no track record at all for turning them around.
Click to expand...

Occulus, Whatsapp and Instagram purchases amount to 3 times facebooks yearly revenue, and none of them have ever returned a profit.
How can this be considered sensible.
 
FB is operating in the social space, not in gaming.

They bought OR because they want the technology, know-how etc. Now because they want to produce and sell a gaming device.

You can be certain that there will be no OR device on the market - ever. It will all be digested in some other project where the know-how will be repurposed for social media projects. That's why FB bought them. They are not a game console company so they'll have no interest in that market. All funding towards the OR dev team will be to redirect the technology to something social media related.
 
I don't understand kickstarter backers getting upset about this. Yes they gave away money to help a few guys sell-out to facebook. What did they expect?

This is why I wouldn't back a kickstarter unless it was for a not-for-profit service. I want equity for my money and risk thanks.
 
OhEsEcks said:
It's been proven to be better than and cheaper than previous attempts at VR.
Click to expand...

Thats all well and good, but it tells us nothing.

I read a [very technical] article a few weeks back about VR and some of the hurdles (which I cant find anymore).

But basically for some of the problems (something to do with eye movement), the technology doesnt exist to solve them, and they still think they are decades away from finding solutions.

Dont get me wrong, its all about progressive enhancements, but I cant see this tech catching on anytime soon
 
redeye_uk said:
Dont get me wrong, its all about progressive enhancements, but I cant see this tech catching on anytime soon
Click to expand...

Eye tracking can be implemented with cameras in the HMD. OR will have to develop their own software though unless they license someone else's patented work.
 
Last edited:
Whilst not particularly fond of Facebook could potentially be a good thing for VR. If the same people continue to run the show backed with FB$ could be what they just needed. Plus will get a lot more exposure with FB as backers.
 
OhEsEcks said:
I don't get what point you're making when you say you're not convinced in response to my answer. It's been proven to be better than and cheaper than previous attempts at VR.

And OR isn't about a social experience of being in a room together. It's about virtual reality and immersing yourself further into the world you're supposed to be in. What Facebook intends to do with it in that regard, we'll have to wait and see.
Click to expand...

Sorry I meant I'm not convinced about the actual technology having a mainstream use, which the 2Bn price tag suggests it will have.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom