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What is it with HN and trying to read between the lines so hard? There's literally an Oculus Store app store for quest games. Probably they are just making mone

What is it with HN and trying to read between the lines so hard? There's literally an Oculus Store app store for quest games. Probably they are just making money on game sales, like every other game console has for 35 years.

wlesieutre 6y ago
I do worry that Facebook will figure they might as well double dip on sales and advertising; future headsets are probably going to have eye tracking (ostensibly for foveated rendering and better avatars), and combining in-world advertising with exact data on how long people looked at them is a pretty compelling sell for what is fundamentally an advertising company. They spent like 15 minutes of the presentation talking about how ethical they're going to be (re: AR glasses) and how trust has to be earned, but their ethics track record isn't exactly stellar.
- lowdose 6y ago
  It's Facebook version of doublespeak.
xnx 6y ago
I agree that being a game platform would be enough to be profitable, though their biggest dream must be to be the ultimate gatekeeper/taxman to what goes into your eyes. Aside from injecting thoughts right into your brain, what is more important than a screen that blocks out everything else you see? (phone, laptop, and TV are worth zero when you're wearing goggles).
- petre 6y ago
  And the next thing you know firemen are running around burning books, like in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.
shajznnckfke 6y ago
I’m skeptical the Facebook would bother to invest so many billions into VR just for the chance of being part of the competitive game console market. It makes sense to think about how it fits into the long-term strategy for their main cash cow, ads. If there’s a future where internet/app usage hours shift toward VR, Facebook doesn’t want to be left in the dust like Myspace when users switch to a new social network. Even if they can keep users on a Facebook-owned VR app, they don’t want to wind up paying a 30% tax to some platform owner.
- wlesieutre 6y ago
  I hope that the platform as a whole don't start stuffing ads everywhere, but I'd be shocked if there weren't some monitization plan for Facebook Horizon
- jayd16 6y ago
  > being part of the competitive game console market You mean being part of the many billion dollar game industry by controlling the highest growth sector in that industry with vendor lock in and rent seeking for any game sold in that new market? Yeah...who would want that...
  - shajznnckfke 6y ago
    Sure, but that would also apply to other companies who could have bought Oculus. I think the way it fits into Facebook’s overall company strategy explains why they would bid the most.
    - jayd16 6y ago
      Hmm, who would have bid more? Google has its own tech and doesn't like making content. Apple doesn't like making content and only recently got into original video content. Microsoft has its own tech. I don't _think_ Facebook had a lot of computer vision expertise at the time and it makes sense they'd want to buy into that. Amazon was a choice I guess?
kichik 6y ago
If it were truly just about the games, they would let you keep using Oculus login. Why else would they force you to use a Facebook login? If they only cared about store profits, logins wouldn't be required at all.
- evan_ 6y ago
  no idea if this is the reason but they are being pretty forward about banning malicious users (cheaters, creeps) and you can't do that effectively if you just ban the throwaway user.
  - kichik 6y ago
    Interesting. But don't you have to attach a credit card to buy and play the game? They can use that to identify repeat offenders and probably other things as well. Other platforms solved the issue without accessing my entire social graph.
- bserge 6y ago
  Just make a separate/dummy Facebook account. That's what I use.
renewiltord 6y ago
It's just run of the mill conspiracy theorists. I remove them from my feed and move on.
throwaway423342 6y ago
do you work for FB? within FB people 'assume good intention'. outside FB not so much. think about why
wincy 6y ago
Also remember that Mark Zuckerberg himself demoed the Samsung Oculus headset to everyone. That was a really big deal at the time. It's possible that this is a pet project he's adopted and really wants to see succeed. However, practically, it's a great jumping off point for AR and we know that Apple is experimenting with Augmented reality headsets that are tied to your phone. Facebook might just be trying to get ahead of the game, betting that the next step past phones is VR/AR.
gibolt 6y ago
You could imagine a future where VR/AR is the equivalent of Mac or Windows, iOS or Android. The platform is the asset
xeonoex 6y ago
It's not just HN. I think it's pretty fair to be concerned about facebook's tracking, given the level they already go to on their site. I just spent $1000 on a Valve Index, since there is no way I am strapping 4 facebook linked cameras to my head.

wlesieutre 6y ago

I do worry that Facebook will figure they might as well double dip on sales and advertising; future headsets are probably going to have eye tracking (ostensibly for foveated rendering and better avatars), and combining in-world advertising with exact data on how long people looked at them is a pretty compelling sell for what is fundamentally an advertising company. They spent like 15 minutes of the presentation talking about how ethical they're going to be (re: AR glasses) and how trust has to be earned, but their ethics track record isn't exactly stellar.

lowdose 6y ago
It's Facebook version of doublespeak.

xnx 6y ago

I agree that being a game platform would be enough to be profitable, though their biggest dream must be to be the ultimate gatekeeper/taxman to what goes into your eyes. Aside from injecting thoughts right into your brain, what is more important than a screen that blocks out everything else you see? (phone, laptop, and TV are worth zero when you're wearing goggles).

petre 6y ago
And the next thing you know firemen are running around burning books, like in Ray Bradbury's Fahrenheit 451.

shajznnckfke 6y ago

I’m skeptical the Facebook would bother to invest so many billions into VR just for the chance of being part of the competitive game console market. It makes sense to think about how it fits into the long-term strategy for their main cash cow, ads. If there’s a future where internet/app usage hours shift toward VR, Facebook doesn’t want to be left in the dust like Myspace when users switch to a new social network. Even if they can keep users on a Facebook-owned VR app, they don’t want to wind up paying a 30% tax to some platform owner.

wlesieutre 6y ago
I hope that the platform as a whole don't start stuffing ads everywhere, but I'd be shocked if there weren't some monitization plan for Facebook Horizon
jayd16 6y ago
> being part of the competitive game console market You mean being part of the many billion dollar game industry by controlling the highest growth sector in that industry with vendor lock in and rent seeking for any game sold in that new market? Yeah...who would want that...
- shajznnckfke 6y ago
  Sure, but that would also apply to other companies who could have bought Oculus. I think the way it fits into Facebook’s overall company strategy explains why they would bid the most.
  - jayd16 6y ago
    Hmm, who would have bid more? Google has its own tech and doesn't like making content. Apple doesn't like making content and only recently got into original video content. Microsoft has its own tech. I don't _think_ Facebook had a lot of computer vision expertise at the time and it makes sense they'd want to buy into that. Amazon was a choice I guess?

kichik 6y ago

If it were truly just about the games, they would let you keep using Oculus login. Why else would they force you to use a Facebook login? If they only cared about store profits, logins wouldn't be required at all.

evan_ 6y ago
no idea if this is the reason but they are being pretty forward about banning malicious users (cheaters, creeps) and you can't do that effectively if you just ban the throwaway user.
- kichik 6y ago
  Interesting. But don't you have to attach a credit card to buy and play the game? They can use that to identify repeat offenders and probably other things as well. Other platforms solved the issue without accessing my entire social graph.
bserge 6y ago
Just make a separate/dummy Facebook account. That's what I use.

renewiltord 6y ago

It's just run of the mill conspiracy theorists. I remove them from my feed and move on.

throwaway423342 6y ago

do you work for FB? within FB people 'assume good intention'. outside FB not so much. think about why

wincy 6y ago

Also remember that Mark Zuckerberg himself demoed the Samsung Oculus headset to everyone. That was a really big deal at the time. It's possible that this is a pet project he's adopted and really wants to see succeed. However, practically, it's a great jumping off point for AR and we know that Apple is experimenting with Augmented reality headsets that are tied to your phone. Facebook might just be trying to get ahead of the game, betting that the next step past phones is VR/AR.

gibolt 6y ago

You could imagine a future where VR/AR is the equivalent of Mac or Windows, iOS or Android. The platform is the asset

xeonoex 6y ago

It's not just HN. I think it's pretty fair to be concerned about facebook's tracking, given the level they already go to on their site. I just spent $1000 on a Valve Index, since there is no way I am strapping 4 facebook linked cameras to my head.