3 ms·

This is exactly what the Oculus acquisition is all about and it was a genius move.

spacefight 12y ago
We haven't (thank god) started to use a rift for x [min] of time per day on the same scale some uf us use FB. The use cases and the biz cases for buying/using a rift is imho not yet a given.
lovelearning 12y ago
I don't follow. Can you elaborate?
- jinushaun 12y ago
  Facebook is making sure all their eggs are not in one basket.
csmattryder 12y ago
Yep, I can see FB staying in the tech game long after their core product has lost interest, due to them buying into emerging technologies. Yahoo tried it with their Tumblr acquisition (and others), but they seem to buy companies at their peak, rather during their early growth stages.
- higherpurpose 12y ago
  Or maybe they'll run Oculus into the ground, too, much like Yahoo did with dozens of companies it bought for a lot of money, too (Flickr would be one of the more known examples).
wuliwong 12y ago
Not to mention Instagram and WhatsApp. Not the same kind of hardware tech, but certainly diversifying. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are 3 of maybe the top 5 or so apps out there right now.
drzaiusapelord 12y ago
Well, this has been Yahoo's strategy as well. Its bought a lot of high profile projects, often good projects, and then it systematically ran them into the ground. I'm not sure how FB is run internally, but what I know doesn't fill me with confidence. It feels like a bunch of 20 somethings acting as arrogant as possible because of their defacto monopoly on personal social networking. I honestly can't see this culture being good for a hardware company that's expected to continue to be an open source darling and actually ship hardware. Where's FB's track record in hardware? A couple failed phones at best? Heck, /r/oculus used to this avalanche of futurism and wonderful projects. Now it reads like a lot of press, marketing, and PR pieces. I suspect a lot of the hobbyist goodwill has been burned by the acquisition or just naturally petered out and the interesting people have moved to better things. Not to mention Sony and MS getting in on the action. Sony has Morpheus and MS is showcasing their VR headset in June. These are devices that'll "just work" with a commodity console as opposed to a specialist device that'll "just not work" without a hefty and expensive gaming machine and an end user without enough tech skills to tie all these disparate elements together. I think FB smelled blood in the water with Sony and MS eating Oculus's lunch and got them at a very discounted price. Everyone thinks this is some masterful move, but it seems like desperation from all involved. The console juggernauts are just not easy to beat. If they were we'd all be playing iConsole or Facebook's console or the Ouya. Sony and MS have the hardware, the delivery back-end, the online stores, the customers, the exclusive deals, the experience, the branding, and the marketing muscle. What is FB bringing to the table other than cash from its inflated stock?

We haven't (thank god) started to use a rift for x [min] of time per day on the same scale some uf us use FB. The use cases and the biz cases for buying/using a rift is imho not yet a given.

lovelearning 12y ago

I don't follow. Can you elaborate?

jinushaun 12y ago
Facebook is making sure all their eggs are not in one basket.

csmattryder 12y ago

Yep, I can see FB staying in the tech game long after their core product has lost interest, due to them buying into emerging technologies. Yahoo tried it with their Tumblr acquisition (and others), but they seem to buy companies at their peak, rather during their early growth stages.

higherpurpose 12y ago
Or maybe they'll run Oculus into the ground, too, much like Yahoo did with dozens of companies it bought for a lot of money, too (Flickr would be one of the more known examples).

wuliwong 12y ago

Not to mention Instagram and WhatsApp. Not the same kind of hardware tech, but certainly diversifying. Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp are 3 of maybe the top 5 or so apps out there right now.

drzaiusapelord 12y ago

Well, this has been Yahoo's strategy as well. Its bought a lot of high profile projects, often good projects, and then it systematically ran them into the ground. I'm not sure how FB is run internally, but what I know doesn't fill me with confidence. It feels like a bunch of 20 somethings acting as arrogant as possible because of their defacto monopoly on personal social networking. I honestly can't see this culture being good for a hardware company that's expected to continue to be an open source darling and actually ship hardware. Where's FB's track record in hardware? A couple failed phones at best? Heck, /r/oculus used to this avalanche of futurism and wonderful projects. Now it reads like a lot of press, marketing, and PR pieces. I suspect a lot of the hobbyist goodwill has been burned by the acquisition or just naturally petered out and the interesting people have moved to better things. Not to mention Sony and MS getting in on the action. Sony has Morpheus and MS is showcasing their VR headset in June. These are devices that'll "just work" with a commodity console as opposed to a specialist device that'll "just not work" without a hefty and expensive gaming machine and an end user without enough tech skills to tie all these disparate elements together. I think FB smelled blood in the water with Sony and MS eating Oculus's lunch and got them at a very discounted price. Everyone thinks this is some masterful move, but it seems like desperation from all involved. The console juggernauts are just not easy to beat. If they were we'd all be playing iConsole or Facebook's console or the Ouya. Sony and MS have the hardware, the delivery back-end, the online stores, the customers, the exclusive deals, the experience, the branding, and the marketing muscle. What is FB bringing to the table other than cash from its inflated stock?