Facebook acquired Oculus Rift for $2 billion

[Ciggavelli]

Notch

Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.

Don’t get me wrong, VR is not bad for social. In fact, I think social could become one of the biggest applications of VR. Being able to sit in a virtual living room and see your friend’s avatar? Business meetings? Virtual cinemas where you feel like you’re actually watching the movie with your friend who is seven time zones away?

But I don’t want to work with social, I want to work with games.

Fortunately, the rise of Oculus coincided with competitors emerging. None of them are perfect, but competition is a very good thing. If this means there will be more competition, and VR keeps getting better, I am going to be a very happy boy. I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook. Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven’t historically been a stable platform. There’s nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me.

And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.

I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers are Oculus. It’s been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidew...s-rift-plans-because-facebook-creeps-him-out/

dat ether: "I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition"

 

[Malik]

They have a legit reason to be a bit heated. They funded it under the premise they were funding Oculus as an independent entity that would continue to develop on the beta dev kits they each got.

They didn't fund it under the premise of being a Seed Round + Series A round of funding for a company to be acquisition bait down the road and to be dumped on the sidelines. If this was the case, 2m in funding would definitely clear a Seed (500k) and small Series A (1.5m) to net at the very least ~ 10% of the company (but more likely upwards of 20% depending on other funders and share dilution down the road) in equity and have a say in product development and company direction.

In normal venture capital, oculus would have owed at the lower bound 200m and at the upper bound 400m to these first funders.

Instead, under the kickstarter model, Oculus got free cash, made some pretty demos, went on a tech road show to up their valuation, and got acquired while keeping 100% equity of the company while kickstarters got some dev kits that'll be obsolete and unsupported since I'm sure they don't fit Facebook's "product roadmap".

Oculus =

It is ingenious though

Why apply to YCombinator and give up 7% of your company for that $150K seed funding when you get dummies across the world to hand you $2.5 million dollars with no strings attached

 

[Slystallion]

that minecraft creator is such a little p*ssy...he doesn't know that FB pretty much keeps the teams and companies they acquire intact ala google

and yes the kickstarter people got screwed...when you invest in a company you should get some sort of shares or stake in the company based off what you invested

I will never give money to kickstarter projects

 

[Ciggavelli]

that minecraft creator is such a little p*ssy...he doesn't know that FB pretty much keeps the teams and companies they acquire intact ala google

and yes the kickstarter people got screwed...when you invest in a company you should get some sort of shares or stake in the company based off what you invested

I will never give money to kickstarter projects

but this:

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.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/26/t...irtual-reality-headset.html?hpw&rref=business

It's speculation at this point, but I can see it happening, unfortunately

 

[Lord Scion]

sony has won so much this generation, it's not even fair

shyt isn't fair.

Microsoft fumbled, OR threw their good will in the bushes, Nintendo didn't even make it out the starting gate.... Sony is in cruise control at this point, it's like they're literally being handed every thing on a silver platter right now. And they don't even have any major 1st party releases planned until the fall.

.....all while Valve is waiting in the bushes,

"Soon" says Lord Gaben.

 

[Ciggavelli]

shyt isn't fair.

Microsoft fumbled, OR threw their good will in the bushes, Nintendo didn't even make it out the starting gate.... Sony is in cruise control at this point, it's like they're literally being handed every thing on a silver platter right now. And they don't even have any major 1st party releases planned until the fall.

.....all while Valve is waiting in the bushes,

"Soon" says Lord Gaben.

Gabe's too obsessed with stopping microsoft at the moment in my opinion. It worries me a bit. But, he could pull out something amazing

shyt wouldn't be good for the community though. Valve OS, Valve Hardware, Valve store. Too much of a monopoly (and I love steam)

 

[Saysumthinfunnymike]

This VR shyt is so far away from meaning anything to me I can't even pretend to care..

 

[Beerus]

Notch



http://www.forbes.com/sites/davidew...s-rift-plans-because-facebook-creeps-him-out/

dat ether: "I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition"

Sony morpheus exclusive minecraft

 

[Ciggavelli]

Hindsight is always 20-20, that is, unless you're looking through virtual-reality goggles — then, things may get really crazy.

Just minutes after Facebook's announcement that it acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion on Tuesday, early supporters of the project took to Kickstarter to voice their displeasure about the deal.

See also: Oculus Rift Unveils New Virtual Reality Headset for Devs to Play With

"What in hell was the point of Kickstarter if you sell out to a giant company like Facebook?" Michael Cooper wrote on the project's Kickstarter comment page. "This is very disappointing. I will no longer be supporting the Oculus Rift in anyway."

That was just one of many comments criticizing the deal, which will make the world's biggest social network the owner of the hottest virtual-reality headset around.

Other commenters weighed in with similar reactions ranging from mild disappointment to sheer outrage:

• "Well, I'm kind of horrified. I'd never have backed this if I'd had an inkling this might happen. Very happy I didn't preorder the second devkit; I'm going to wait and see what competitors might pop up." — Svein Ove Aas
  
  
• "All I can say with absolute certainty is I absolutely do not like, use, nor trust Facebook as a company. While my funds are yours fair and square, at this moment in time, I regret backing this. I sincerely hope I am wrong." — Brad'li
  
  
• "Wow I am in shock...VR was soo close... Now I feel we are back in 1993 again. What a setback. I had so much hope for this project. You really need to give us a proper explanation for this move..." — Mathias Hagstrom
  
  
• "Wow, I misjudged you... sorry to hear I was backing Facebook in the end... thanks for that." — Tim Pettigrew
  
  
• "I too want my $10 back. I don't want my VR experience in the Facebook mall." — Avram Eisner
  
  
• "Horrible... HORRIBLE decision. I want my donation back." — Mike Yoo
  
  
• "I would have NEVER given a single cent of my money to Oculus if I had known you were going to sell out to Facebook. You sold all of us out. I hope this backfires horribly for Oculus and Facebook. I will personally discourage absolutely anyone I know from buying what was once an indie dream and is now a soulless corporate cash cow. God, I want a refund so badly." — John Wolf

At the time of this writing, not one comment on the Oculus Rift Kickstarter page conveyed a positive reaction to news of the acquisition.

Oculus Rift may be one of the biggest Kickstarter exits in history, but if early reactions are any indication, Facebook may have some fence-mending to do in the coming weeks.

Unfortunately, for disgruntled supporters, Kickstarter doesn't have a money-back-guarantee clause for projects that ride your donations to a multi-billion-dollar payday.

http://mashable.com/2014/03/25/kickstarter-oculus-facebook/

"At the time of this writing, not one comment on the Oculus Rift Kickstarter page conveyed a positive reaction to news of the acquisition."

Kickstarter just died tonight too

The comments on the Kickstarter page....damn

 

[Ciggavelli]

Damage control on reddit, for those interested:

http://www.reddit.com/user/palmerluckey

 

[ahomeplateslugger]

i'm sure oculus has a plan for VR gaming and know where they wanna take it but need help expanding beyond gaming so in comes facebook. i may be in the minority but i'm interested in seeing what they do with this.

 

[daze23]

Damage control on reddit, for those interested:

http://www.reddit.com/user/palmerluckey

the downvotes

seems he's basically saying nothing changed except having more money now

 

[nyknick]

So $2 billion for VR technology...it's never going to be successfulZuckerberg should ask for his money back. Close the thread please, Facebook ask for refund, VR will never make it, the future of gaming is already here



That lean

 

[Ciggavelli]

the downvotes

seems he's basically saying nothing changed except having more money now

Because this is about the best possible outcome for the future of virtual reality, not my wallet.

21 year-olds shouldn't run companies (or maybe they should....)


Carmack left id for this too

 

[Fatboi1]

So $2 billion for VR technology...it's never going to be successfulZuckerberg should ask for his money back. Close the thread please, Facebook ask for refund, VR will never make it, the future of gaming is already here



That lean

Oh shyt I almost thought you were serious for a second.