Facebook to buy Occulus Rift :/

Terminal_Boy · 26 Mar 2014 at 13:33

Tunney said:
John Carmack working at Facebook is like Yoda piloting the Death Star.

You've got my vote in the Quote Of The Year nominations...

rubberduck · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:01

I bet all the people crying about this development have FB accounts....

cheesyboy · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:04

rubberduck said:
I bet all the people crying about this development have FB accounts....

What's your point? You don't think people with AIDS think that's a bit **** too?

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:04

I don't see why everyones getting their nickers in a twist for. A parent company buying up other companies, to make future profit.
Its hardly going to be merged with Facebook is it.

Facebook is basically just using their wealth as an investor.

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:05

pitchfork said:
"Oh no, facebook is becoming less relevant to society - best buy something new and hip"

This does really **** me off though, I was looking forward to some VR gaming, looks like Facebook are going to completely ruin that for me.

It's going to be a stream of poor games, expensive DLC which you need to complete said game, data mining and advertisement. It's going to set back VR by years if not decades.

What utter nonsense, the company does not make games. It's just Facebook money. Things will go on as they were yesterday.

Ceryndrion · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:06

oh god oh god we're all going to die..

glenimp617 · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:08

cheesyboy said:
What's your point? You don't think people with AIDS think that's a bit **** too?

pitchfork · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:15

Glaucus said:
What utter nonsense, the company does not make games. It's just Facebook money. Things will go on as they were yesterday.

Rubbish, you know just as well as I do Facebook are going to spray their stink all over this to make it marketable to morons and no good devs are gonna go near it.

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:17

pitchfork said:
Rubbish, you know just as well as I do Facebook are going to spray their stink all over this to make it marketable to morons and no good devs are gonna go near it.

Lol. That is stupid statment.
It offers nothing to the casual Facebook user and will be an expensive device.

Facebook is simply turning into an investment company. Nothing more. The idea that Facebook is going to come on OR is just retarded.

Noxia · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:19

Facebook hating aside, is there any valid reason why this is bad?

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:22

Noxia said:
Facebook hating aside, is there any valid reason why this is bad?

No. Other than silly people thinking Facebook will take control (no sign or reason for them to do that) and try to market something that is game orientated (there is several other markets especially in design industry) and will like cost ~£300 to Facebook users, because a webpage really utilizes VR.

Just paranoid Facebook hating at it's best.

cheesyboy · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:22

Noxia said:
Facebook hating aside, is there any valid reason why this is bad?

No

There's also nothing bad about getting run over, injuries aside.

Noxia · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:24

Glaucus said:
No. Other than silly people thinking Facebook will take control (no sign or reason for them to do that) and try to market something that is game orientated (there is several other markets especially in design industry) and will like cost ~£300 to Facebook users, because a webpage really utilizes VR.

Just paranoid Facebook hating at it's best.

Thought as much. I fail to see what impact this will have on those just looking forward to playing PC games on it. Reminds me of the Disney buying Star Wars hysteria.

robgmun · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:32

Noxia said:
Thought as much. I fail to see what impact this will have on those just looking forward to playing PC games on it. Reminds me of the Disney buying Star Wars hysteria.

Glaucus is being incredibly naive if he thinks that Facebook will leave OR to be. And in regards to Disney buying Star Wars, the hysteria was overwhelmingly positive, getting the franchise out of GL's hands was the best thing to happen to Star Wars since ESB

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:34

Naïve, come on what can they realistically do to it?
Render thumbs up in 3d and somehow attach OR to tablets and phones, which is by far the biggest way fb is accessed. and sell a ~£300 device to computer illiterate people. When they won't even spend that much on a tablet of phone.

Come on it is so far outside of fb core business it has nothing to do with fb, just profit.

Noxia · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:41

On a side note, your fundraiser amount was annoying me so I sorted it out.

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:42

Noxia said:
On a side note, your fundraiser amount was annoying me so I sorted it out.

Yay, thank you very much.

xyphic · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:47

Glaucus said:
Naïve, come on what can they realistically do to it?
Render thumbs up in 3d and somehow attach OR to tablets and phones, which is by far the biggest way fb is accessed. and sell a ~£300 debice to computer illiterate people. When they won't even spend that much on a tablet of phone.

Come on it is so far outside of fb core business it has nothing to do with fb, just profit.

But how are they to make a profit from it if it's only marketed at computer-literate people (specifically gamers)? From what we've heard so far, they plan to invest a big chunk of money into creating bespoke components for it -- rather than using ones designed for the mobile market -- and sell it for significantly less than they would have been able to had they carried on independently. Given the dev kit is in the region of £300, they need to be aiming at the £100-200 price range and they'll need to sell a *lot* to be profitable.

FB have to be looking at this as a way to further monetise their platform. The question is how they plan to do that. Their history would point to using it to mine user data and deliver advertising, and that's what isn't going down well with its current target demographic, which is those people who are most likely to hold a cynical view of what Facebook does and how it operates.

Glaucus · 26 Mar 2014 at 15:50

They see it as an investment.
It's not just the game industry, of which pc gaming is huge so more than profitable on it's own. Many corporations would benefit from VR as well.

OR is not going to be cheap as it needs a lot of tech and components as we have seen so far. The screens are to low rest, needs external cameras etc and it's not even at a place ready for consumers yet.

How they going to use it for advertising, they do not design the coneptent for it. It is a second display on your pc.
It's Facebook diversifying and using capital it has now to buy upcoming companies, to simply siphoned profit from in years to come.

mattyjim123 · 26 Mar 2014 at 16:01

The guys over at Engadget were in a conference call with Zuckerberg earlier:

Update: We're on the call now, and Mark Zuckerberg is already pointing out Facebook's acquisition of Instagram as an example of how the company is getting experience buying properties and allowing them to continue to operate independently. Zuckerberg called out virtual reality as one of the computing platforms of the future -- following desktops and mobile -- and yes, talked about building Facebook's advertising into it. Specifically, he talked about the potential of a virtual communication network, buying virtual goods, and down the line, advertising.

http://www.engadget.com/2014/03/25/facebook-oculus-vr-2-billion/

Seems they're keen to keep the company working independently, but also want to incorporate ads too? :confused: