Facebook buys Oculus for 2 Billion Dollars

Earlier today, Mark Zuckerburg announced that Facebook will be acquiring Oculus for 2 billion dollars in cash and assets. According to the deal, Facebook will pay 400 million dollars in cash with the remainder paid with 23.1 million shares of Facebook stock.

Mark Zuckerburg hopes the acquisation will help them ‘reach the platforms of tomorrow’.  “Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.” says Zuckerburg. It seems like the CEO sees virtual reality as a replacement for our current platforms. While some maybe skeptical, we can only hope that Facebook will leave Oculus independent and alone.

After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences, Zuckerberg said. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home.

“This is really a new communication platform,” he continued. “By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures. – Gaming Industry

Palmer Luckey tried to handle the resulting uproar by explaining that this merger will allow for a less expensive consumer version and will allow them to invest in more content.  However, Luckey has not provided any examples on what exactly those things are. When asked about his thoughts regarding the acquisition, Luckey replied

Palmer Luckey founder of Oculus

We can make custom hardware,[and] not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon. We can [now] afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects. We can make huge investments in content.

In the end, whether or not you think virtual reality is the next mobile phone, the deal was great for Facebook. Oculus, on the other hand, may end up regretting the decision later down the road.  It appears that the Kickstarter backers are angry with the Oculus acquisition by Facebook. Notch, the creator of Minecraft, took to Reddit and Twitter, saying in regards to Palmer:

You got my respect before I met you. You kept it when I met you. I understand that this happened because people with investments in the company saw big sacks of dollar bills. I understand you’re probably under a big NDA and stuck in golden handcuffs, and that this might be a frustrating situation.

I just hope you got your fair share. VR will live on. Thank you for being part of making it finally happen.

I really wish this hadn’t happened.

Notch also wrote on his private blog:

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 at 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.

Notch had been in talks with Oculus to make a virtual reality version of Minecraft. However after Facebook announced the accusation today, he has since cancelled those talks. He wasn’t the only dev either; many other developers took to Twitter to publicly cancel their virtual reality projects.

This acquisition may be a big blow to the virtual reality community. Oculus recently stated that they were 18-20 months away from releasing a consumer version – a goal that was supposed to originally be met by the holiday season, 2014.   Hopefully this acquisition can only make Oculus better, but along with the rest of the community, I have my doubts.

What are your thoughts on where Facebook might be headed? Were you interested in virtual reality and in Oculus before the announcement? Have your feelings changed? Let us know in the comments and on ABT forum.