Well it was good while it lasted

[ZeroG]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/03/25/facebook_buys_oculus_virtual_reality/

 

[.AC.]

This news is good for vr technology, neutral for gamers, bad for john carmack's idea of open source.

 

[Skull]

I personally don't like it. This has already driven away potential developers (See: Notch) from developing for the Rift, and, well, FB don't really care about what happens as long as it increases their userbase.

 

[ZeroG]

I can't see how they could effectively make back their 2 billion on this. Also I can't see it being good for gamers unless its kept open source.

 

[.AC.]

Also I can't see it being good for gamers unless its kept open source.

Well the problem is that oculus currently has passion led targets and will likely turn to profit led targets shortly after the acquisition. Let me make it clear that I think the oculus device will suffer as far as consumers are concerned, but VR in general as well as Oculus VR as a company should benefit from this.

Interest in the oculus was extremely strong and competition as a result of this was weak save for the "surprisingly decent" sony vr system announced last week. With the disappointment this acquisition brings I believe other companies will start braving up and we should see new specialised attempts into VR technology honeypot that Facebook is likely going to ensure exists.

I believe steering VR away from being purely gaming motivated will ensure a stronger and longer adoption of VR tech itself, its just a shame that oculus has to sacrifice its... Er... Soul.. to do it. Meanwhile you can hope that if the likes of john carmack stay in the company and companies like valve are still interested, then nothing really changes.

 

[sirflukesalot]

simpsons called it....

 

[Bloodnok]

 

[gimpchimp]

I'm with AC. In the long run it'll be good for increasing HCI but for the product itself, it'll significantly decrease the userbase.