Facebook buys Oculus Rift
Facebook has announced it is acquiring Oculus, the company behind the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, for $2 billion.
Mark Zuckerberg, Founder and CEO of Facebook, has revealed the social media giant has acquired the company in an attempt to be part of the technological future.
“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,” said Zuckerberg. “Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.”
According to Zuckerberg, Facebook will support Oculus’ plans for immersive gaming that it “hopes to accelerate” and help develop partnerships to make sure Oculus Rift support more games.
“Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.”
Oculus itself seems very pleased with the acquisition, suggesting that Facebook is going to help them “bring our vision to millions of people” and allow”billions of people to connect in a way never before possible.”
“At first glance, it might not seem obvious why Oculus is partnering with Facebook, a company focused on connecting people, investing in internet access for the world and pushing an open computing platform,” said Oculus in a statement. “But when you consider it more carefully, we’re culturally aligned with a focus on innovating and hiring the best and brightest; we believe communication drives new platforms; we want to contribute to a more open, connected world; and we both see virtual reality as the next step.”
However, Facebook will create a platform “for many other experiences”, including sports, education, or even healthcare.
“This really is a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life.”
The purchase is expected to close in Q2 2014, and the $2 billion sale cost is made up of $400 million in cash and over 23 million shares equating to around $1.6 billion, plus an additional $300 million put aside for future performance.
Developers have already started voicing their opinions on the Facebook Oculus buyout, with Mojang’s Markus “Notch” Persson of Minecraft fame already speaking out passionately on the subject.
“We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus,” said Persson. “I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.”
Read more: Oculus Rift vs Sony Project Morpheus – VR tech compared
