Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Facebook acquires Oculus VR

facebook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

591–600 of 871 posts

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#591

Post by Crito »

simlevesque wrote: post #531
Crito wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Facebook is the biggest name in social media." -> "Google, another tech powerhouse, is trying to push their social media offerings." -> "Google has 3 things that Facebook does not: Email, Youtube, and Glass." -> "Facebook is comfortable with the first two, since they have been there for years, but Glass is threatening to them." -> "Facebook needs their own 'Glass', in case Glass pans out." My prediction: Glass will…

So Facebook has a search engine ?

> "Google has 3 things [relevant to social] that Facebook does not: Email, Youtube, and Glass."

Facebook also doesn't have their own GAE or self-driving car program, but those aren't particularly relevant to Facebook's core business.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#592

Post by froo »

mrtschndr wrote: post #525
froo wrote: post #424

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I can't see a single positive thing coming out from a non gaming company buying a game focused company (and an extremely promising one at that). You mean like Microsoft acquiring Bungie in 2000? Gaming (at the time) wasn't one of Microsofts core competencies.

This is a good example except that Halo sucks. Its popular, but weak.

Back in the day it was a very promising game.

I distinctly remember sitting in a computer lab at Uni watching the dev demo for Halo on a Mac and daydreaming about buying one, specifically to play this game in 1999-ish

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#593

Post by GreaterFool »

lawl wrote: post #48

Damn! I don't like this. I had hoped they jump in bed with valve. Yes, I just really dislike facebook, so I hate to see them aquiring something i was really excited about. Also from the article: > After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. 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 fa…

I'm pretty sure Valve can make their own VR headset if they want to -- didn't Sony do just that with Project Morpheus?

There's also Avegant; their focus is different but the tech seems awesome.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#594

Post by kudu »

I don't understand all the hate towards Facebook. If this was Google, we would all be bending down to thank the Holy Non-Evil Tech Company for its gracious acquisition.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#595

Post by AndrewKemendo »

31reasons wrote: post #560
AndrewKemendo wrote: post #498

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is the wonderland you live in that makes you think an insanely expensive platform (yes for the average person the Oculus is crazy expensive) with expensive to create content and little use outside a static environment would be open forever? Can you name anything massively successful with wide adoption that has those features? If it wasn't facebook it would have been Google/Msft/etc... The vitriol to this announc…

I wouldn't have hated this deal much if it was Microsoft.

I think that is just a sign of the times and has nothing to do with any real fundamental differences.

Hackers HATED MSFT only a decade ago - and many still do - and they do just as much shady crap as facebook does.

The whole hate here is irrational in my opinion.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#596

Post by dsuth »

frakkingcylons wrote: post #179

Palmer Luckey (founder of Oculus VR) just wrote a statement[0] on the Oculus subreddit: "I’ve always loved games. They’re windows into worlds that let us travel somewhere fantastic. My foray into virtual reality was driven by a desire to enhance my gaming experience; to make my rig more than just a window to these worlds, to actually let me step inside them. As time went on, I realized that VR technology wasn’t just…

To think that he actually believes any of what he just wrote is... difficult. I dunno what Facebook pushed in front of him, but to me Occulus is now nothing more than a footnote in the quest for immersive VR. How disappointing.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#597

Post by kevando »

lightcatcher wrote: post #109

I just finished reading "Masters of Doom" last night. The book is about id software, the company that made Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Quake and that pioneered 3D gaming. The book primarily follows John Carmack and John Romero, two of the founders of id. Carmack was responsible for developing almost all of the 3D engine code. After finishing Quake, (what I believe to be) the first fully 3D PC game, Carmack wanted to wo…

One other important take away from MoD, Carmack gives zero fucks about what he says publicly. I'm excited to hear his take on this whole deal, especially since I imagine it comes as a bit of a shock to most of the Oculus team.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#598

Post by FD3SA »

prawn wrote: post #543
FD3SA wrote: post #460

This is extremely disappointing. This technology had the potential to be much bigger than Facebook. The Occulus was poised to create an entirely new industry. They were pioneering a technology never before seen, with a legend like John Carmack pushing the state of the art. I cannot think of a more colossal mistake to make as a founder. Palmer Luckey has shown he has absolutely no faith in his ability nor that of his…

I'm not excited about this news either, but let's say Oculus doesn't do this. What if, in two years, Valve have a similar product out there, with more convincing immersion and their existing community and game contacts. And Sony have Morpheus pushed to PS4 fans and their existing developer contacts. And for those two years, Oculus have moved along with their existing community and existing funding. Maybe they wanted…

If Occulus didn't do this deal, they:

- Would have had access to unlimited VC money by being one of Kickstarter's hardware darlings, having John Carmack, and putting out an series of critically acclaimed products in the form of dev-kits

- Would have been able to grow their open platform, which allows direct access to developers from all markets, not just FB/Sony/Valve or other closed systems

- Would have the power and autonomy to guarantee developers that they were all equally important, and that their needs would be the company's top priority

- Would have the potential to create an ecosystem leading to an entirely new industry, not unlike Tesla Roadster, the iPod/iPhone/iPad, etc.

Now? They've destroyed their reputation with developers by guaranteeing they'll be second class citizens to FB's financial interests, by sacrificing all of their autonomy. They've exchanged all of the future potential of their company for $2B.

Look at it this way, Snapchat declined $4B for their trivial messaging app. Yet Occulus, which has so much potential, folded at a measly $2B?

It's just a damn shame.

Re: Facebook acquires Oculus VR

#600

Post by beedogs »

wavefunction wrote: post #484
cwyers wrote: post #453

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Carmack left iD because they wouldn't let him work on the sort of stuff he wanted to work on. I see no reason he'd stick around Faceulus as an acquihire; if he's working at Facebook in the future, it's because they're letting Oculus do what it was doing when Facebook bought it.

@ hack_edu Contracts can be broken. I really doubt John Carmack has to do anything he doesn't want to do. It will be the canary in the coalmine as far as whether I purchase an Oculus HMD when they release. I do hate this "winner-take-all" situation where a few tech companies in the US acquire every single cutting edge company.

An effective FTC and more widespread use of the Sherman act would be nice in the US.
Post reply on HN