I am sorry that you are disappointed. To be honest, if I were you, I would probably have a similar initial impression! There are a lot of reasons why this is a good thing, many of which are not yet public. A lot of people obviously feel the same way you do, so I definitely want to address your points:
QUESTION:The appeal of Oculus (as compared to Sony, for example) is because it is on a PC platform, and thus allows us, the developers, freedom over what we want to do with it.
PALMER: None of that will change. Oculus continues to operate independently! We are going to remain as indie/developer/enthusiast friendly as we have always been, if not more so. This deal lets us dedicate a lot of resources to developer relations, technical help, engine optimizations, and our content investment/publishing/sales platform. We are not going to track you, flash ads at you, or do anything invasive.
QUESTION: The Rift is absolutely targeted towards the gaming population, which tends to be teenage to early 20s/30s, which is the exact population that Facebook is currently losing. By partnering with Facebook, you are gaining access to a massive userbase of people that the rift is not targeted towards, which people might feel is a very bad move.
PALMER: Almost everyone at Oculus is a gamer, and virtual reality will certainly be led by the games industry, largely because it is the only industry that already has the talent and tools required to build awesome interactive 3D environments. In the long run, though, there are going to be a lot of other industries that use VR in huge ways, ways that are not exclusive to gamers; the current focus on gaming is a reflection of the current state of VR, not the long term potential. Education, communication, training, rehabilitation, gaming and film are all going to be major drivers for VR, and they will reach a very wide audience. We are not targeting social media users, we are targeting everyone who has a reason to use VR.
QUESTION:What we fear is not that Oculus will be partnering with Facebook, but that you are selling out the company to Facebook and no longer retain control over Oculus. I can say that I, personally, support Oculus because I believed in the goals and visions that you had.
PALMER: This acquisition/partnership gives us more control of our destiny, not less! We don't have to compromise on anything, and can afford to make decisions that are right for the future of virtual reality, not our current revenue. Keep in mind that we already have great partners who invested heavily in Oculus and got us to where we are, so we have not had full control of our destiny for some time. Facebook believes in our long term vision, and they want us to continue executing on our own roadmap, not control what we do. I would never have done this deal if it meant changing our direction, and Facebook has a good track record of letting companies work independently post-acquisition. There is a lot of related good news on the way. I am swamped right now, but I do plan on addressing everyone's concerns. I think everyone will see why this is so incredible when the big picture is clear.
I think a lot of people are freaking about because they dislike Facebook in general and don't want to be forced to use it just to be able to use the rift.
"enilcleahcim" wrote: I really can't believe people are responding to this wonderful news like a bunch of spoiled 3 year olds.
Well, it's expected from Reddit, but come on, are the forums REALLY this densely populated with reactionary luddites?
Wonderful news? Are you a Facebook shareholder?
We have Palmer on the one hand saying everything is just great and will be just great and actually even better. But we have Zuckerberg sounding more and more like Mr. Burns contemplating how he will turn a company - and sadly, no matter what Luckey says now, Zuckerberg is his boss and will be calling the shots. It wasn't a partnership or an alliance. It was a buyout.
Maybe it really will all turn out good for everyone. That would indeed be the ideal. But with Zuckerberg now talking about rebranding the Rift with the Facebook name and logo, and with him talking about advertising and marketing gimmicks to pull in "the big bucks", it's hard to condemn people who were working on content from being worried about the future they invested so much time and effort into.
The only thing we can do now is wait and see but it's important to not just consider what Luckey is saying. Luckey's boss has his own message for the Facebook shareholders about how to turn this investment into cash for them...
"not a hardware company, not going to make a profit from them long term, we do this as a software and services thing. where if we can make it so that this becomes a network where people can be communicating and buying things and virtual goods, and there might be advertising in the world but need to figure that out down the line that's probably where the big bucks will come from." -- http://www.shareholder.com/visitors/event/build3/stage/stage.cfm?mediaid=63723&mediauserid=0
And another source paraphrasing the above...
"The bigger, longer-term issue might be how exactly Facebook plans to monetize Oculus. Zuck said earlier today that he's not interested in making a profit off of the hardware (which is good!) but that "there may be advertising" (which is bad!), not to mention various retail pushes."
If Zuckerberg plans to just help Oculus make a good product that he can then use in Facebook world, that's one thing. If he dumbs it down and subverts it from the VR experience originally championed that is entirely another.
But... but... but... I just NEED to know about the Baba! The Baba has me hypmotized! :shock:
I'll remain skeptical for the time being. A lot changes in a year....a lot. One year ago there was "NO CHANCE" of selling to a larger company. Right now there is "NO CHANCE" of flashing ads, privacy invasion, monetization, forced FB accounts, and all of that other fun stuff. We will see how this turns out. Some people are optimists, others expect the worst. The true outcome will probably fall somewhere in the middle. Either way I do not believe we will get the future we were all dreaming about. Let's face it, that was a long shot anyway.
I had irrational fears about this when I first heard of it, too. But now I can only see it as a good thing. The next few years will see Oculus VR advance faster than anyone would have guessed yesterday. It won't turn bad overnight.
In the unlikely event that the Rift eventually becomes a life-sucking facehugger instead of an open platform for gaming, something else will take its place.
In the unlikely event that the Rift eventually becomes a life-sucking facehugger instead of an open platform for gaming, something else will take its place.
Right up until you consider that a multi-billion dollar company now owns the patents on this revolutionary technology.
