
The Future of Virtual Reality - zouko
http://www.oculusvr.com/blog/the-future-of-virtual-reality/
======
joshontheweb
> When Facebook first approached us about partnering, I was skeptical. As I
> learned more about the company and its vision and spoke with Mark, the
> partnership not only made sense, but became the clear and obvious path to
> delivering virtual reality to everyone.

I'm sure 2 billion dollars helped this decision along quite nicely.

~~~
bane
One of these days, Mark is going to realize that not every acquisition has to
be in the billions. And then he'll realize he could have acquired 3 or 4 times
as many companies.

~~~
baby
You have to keep in mind that spending a billion is also publicity. People are
going to talk about it and see this is a crazy investment.

~~~
bane
It would be far cheaper to blanket the airwaves and the print media with
advertisements.

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justin66
It's entertaining the way Palmer Luckey calls it a partnership and Zuck calls
it an acquisition.

~~~
general_failure
Indeed, Palmer tries very hard to make us believe so. He uses the term
partnership atleast 4 times. In contrast, zuck makes no mention of it (he uses
the term partner but in different contexts).

~~~
WalterSear
Us? Or himself?

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JamesArgo
VR is bigger than gaming, bigger than sports or interactive drama or
pornography. It's an alternative world that can be built from the ground up,
that will allow us to experiment with new forms of embodiment and society. The
whole process involves experimenting with, and shedding certain aspects of,
one's identity. And Facebook wants to cast our identities in stone - and god
help those who maintain pseudonyms.

This great team of hackers got wealth in exchange for their dream. It's a
shame; they could have kept the dream and sold their product instead.

~~~
mwilcox
The thing that gets people is that, as backers of the Kickstarter / customers
of the developer kit, you ARE an investor. Sure - not an investor in the sense
that you own a piece of the company. But you are investing your time and money
into the potential consumer success of the product, by buying the hardware and
developing a game for that. You are right to feel betrayed, it you feel this
disrupts the potential consumer success.

~~~
pekk
as Notch put it, "And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment
round to build value for a Facebook acquisition." (His post is worth reading
for those who haven't yet: [http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-
to-change-...](http://notch.net/2014/03/virtual-reality-is-going-to-change-
the-world/))

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mladenkovacevic
I wonder what Facebook wants out of VR. I'm sure they're not counting on it to
propel Farmville 2.0 (at least I hope not).

Perhaps they feel that VR will be a new interface paradigm - The
mouse/Keyboard or the touchscreen of the 2020s. Being the first one to define
this paradigm would give Facebook a huge advantage in the next fight for
computing and communication mindshare - scary I know. It sounds a little off
right now, but imagine if the VR set becomes more mobile and easier to put on
and take off... or why even take it off. You could interface with data in
three dimensions or communicate with people as if they were right there next
to you. I think this is a much longer play for Facebook than anyone gives them
credit for.

~~~
lmg643
I don't see the fit here. I get Microsoft buying the Kinect platform for Xbox.
Instantly plug it into games, you have an incredible game option, and
additional features get built down the line.

Seems like the first stop for a VR headset would be with an existing top-tier
game console manufacturer. for the sole reason that they already have a
library of material, most of which is an immersive world you navigate with a
joystick, which would benefit greatly from a headset. additional use cases
down the line. Sony was launching their own, so nintendo or microsoft would
make sense.

for facebook - most facebook games are simple, like farmville - not really
benefitting from a VR helmet. how do i interact with my friends in a VR helmet
if they are wearing one too? neither face is actually visible - step down from
facetime, hangouts etc. photo immersion perhaps?

I guess i will be one of the stunned outsiders when i see what amazing use
case facebook has for this.

~~~
mladenkovacevic
I was trying to make the argument that Facebook probably DIDN'T buy them for
games (ie Farmville).

I'm saying that it's a longer bet. Maybe they see it as a new interface for
general computing. It certainly has that intimate, only-I-know-what-I'm-doing
quality that voice commands (Siri and Google Now for example) don't have.

~~~
WalterSear
The problem is, without establishing a beachhead in gaming, there's no real
path towards adoption. You can't just leapfrog the gamers and expect to build
a market with other stuff that might or might not turn out to be compelling:
gaming is VR's no-brainer killer app.

People are going to be buying this for games first, and when a critical mass
assembles, other stuff. So, this is either a very, very long range bet, or a
misguided one.

------
lawl
Oculus _was_ the future of VR. Emphasis on _was_.

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3327
How is Mark a champion of open source? Instead of battlefield 7 with VR now we
are going to meet our FB friends in virtual chat rooms -great.

~~~
jedmeyers
I think eventually we are going to have both.

~~~
pekk
Yes, both. Fully locked in to the Facebook platform, with comprehensive data
on everything we're reading and indeed thinking belonging to Facebook.

------
pekk
Oculusbook is the future of profitable mind-reading and by extension, mass
behavioral control.

I have no doubt that once someone figures out a way to miniaturize and mass-
produce even half-effective neuroimaging or even transcranial magnetic
stimulation rigs, the first applications will be advertising (read: mass
corporate surveillance at an unprecedented depth) and VR.

~~~
WalterSear
Facebokulus, please.

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yeukhon
There is zero information about what is going on in the future of VR. I know
business plans are confidential but it'd be nice to leak some ideas other than
"we will continue to run as the same team day to day" and "we will benefit
from the rich resource FB can provide to us."

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benched
> When Facebook first approached us about partnering, I was skeptical.

Translation: I hadn't heard their offer yet.

~~~
skadamat
Probably more that they could help Oculus accelerate their vision, give them
more resources, and of course $. But I highly doubt it was just money

~~~
general_failure
Come on. It was just money.

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happyscrappy
>it means a better Oculus Rift with fewer compromises even faster than we
anticipated.

Once you sell your soul you are free. /s

