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First off, they should've expected that reaction if they sold to anyone, because: #1 it was too early, and they still had a lot of investment money #2 they've

First off, they should've expected that reaction if they sold to anyone, because: #1 it was too early, and they still had a lot of investment money #2 they've implied many times that they wouldn't sell. I don't remember if they said it directly, but they certainly made it seem that way #3 they basically decided to sell the company "overnight". That took everyone by surprise, and it made the move extremely suspicious (personally, I still think Mark Andreessen forced the decision, and Oculus was more like "ok, well I guess that could work", rather than enthusiastically try to sell the company themselves, prior to that) #4 Facebook seems like one of the worst companies that could've bought Oculus, and no one would've even dreamed that would ever happen, from the community. A lot of people were like "WTF? Is this a joke?" when they heard it. And it's one of the worst, not just because people hated it for being so privacy-intrusive, but also because there's no connection between Oculus and Facebook, and usually when the cultures and visions are very different, the acquisition fails. I don't believe them when they say they really din't expect the reaction to Facebook buying them. If they didn't maybe they aren't paying much attention to what's happening in the tech community lately. I think Oculus could've only done worse than Facebook if they would've been bought by Oracle.

dragontamer 13y ago
They are in a bad position overall however. Sony Morpheous looks like it has taken all the good ideas from Oculus. And with Oculus selling out to Facebook, the "indie" community may not be as supportive of the platform.
- Golddisk 13y ago
  I think that other companies announcing their plans for VR is one of the reasons Oculus sold to FB, especially so quickly. They see themselves needing the backing of a big tech company if they want to be able to compete with companies like Sony or Microsoft.
- XorNot 13y ago
  Sony bastion of not corporatism is the funniest thing that keeps getting repeated all over about this. Yeah, Sony, of memory stick, mini-disc etc. fame won't create a locked in platform. Really?
skewp 13y ago
From the comments I've seen, their definition of "selling out" meant just selling the name and technology but not keeping their own dev team together or continuing to work on their plans as they were. Therefore they don't see this acquisition as selling out because they're keeping the team completely intact and continuing on the same plan as before (only expanded/expedited due to the influx of capital). They already saw themselves as beholden to their investors, so being beholden to one big investor (Facebook) doesn't seem much different to them.
nknighthb 13y ago
> they should've expected that reaction if they sold to anyone Pretty much any major gaming company could have gotten away with it. Even EA wouldn't have caused this much backlash. And if they'd been bought by Valve, there would have been dancing in the streets. (Actually, the dancing would probably still be going on right now.)

dragontamer 13y ago

They are in a bad position overall however. Sony Morpheous looks like it has taken all the good ideas from Oculus. And with Oculus selling out to Facebook, the "indie" community may not be as supportive of the platform.

Golddisk 13y ago
I think that other companies announcing their plans for VR is one of the reasons Oculus sold to FB, especially so quickly. They see themselves needing the backing of a big tech company if they want to be able to compete with companies like Sony or Microsoft.
XorNot 13y ago
Sony bastion of not corporatism is the funniest thing that keeps getting repeated all over about this. Yeah, Sony, of memory stick, mini-disc etc. fame won't create a locked in platform. Really?

skewp 13y ago

From the comments I've seen, their definition of "selling out" meant just selling the name and technology but not keeping their own dev team together or continuing to work on their plans as they were. Therefore they don't see this acquisition as selling out because they're keeping the team completely intact and continuing on the same plan as before (only expanded/expedited due to the influx of capital). They already saw themselves as beholden to their investors, so being beholden to one big investor (Facebook) doesn't seem much different to them.

nknighthb 13y ago

> they should've expected that reaction if they sold to anyone Pretty much any major gaming company could have gotten away with it. Even EA wouldn't have caused this much backlash. And if they'd been bought by Valve, there would have been dancing in the streets. (Actually, the dancing would probably still be going on right now.)