Topic: Facebook to aquire Oculus

[idolminds]

What is this I dont even
Press release

MENLO PARK, Calif., March 25, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Facebook today announced that it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Oculus VR, Inc., the leader in immersive virtual reality technology, for a total of approximately $2 billion. This includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share).  The agreement also provides for an additional $300 million earn-out in cash and stock based on the achievement of certain milestones.

Oculus is the leader in immersive virtual reality technology and has already built strong interest among developers, having received more than 75,000 orders for development kits for the company's virtual reality headset, the Oculus Rift. While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus' existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas.  Given these broad potential applications, virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.

"Mobile is the platform of today, and now we're also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow," said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. "Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate."

"We are excited to work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world," said Brendan Iribe, co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR. "We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it's only just the beginning."

Oculus will maintain its headquarters in Irvine, CA, and will continue development of the Oculus Rift, its ground-breaking virtual reality platform.

The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of 2014.

What the fuck is happening?!

[Xessive]

Oh mother of unholy.. If I see bullshit like "like" icons in a VR headset interface I'm gonna be pissed.

[gpw11]

The backlash against this is huge.  The two top reddit front page posts are about this (from different subs).  Palmer Lucky made an announcement post on the occulus sub and people are questioning him up and down voting his comments.   No one seems to understand why Facebook....and that's the crux of it.  Sure people would probably be pissed if it was AMD or Nvidia as well, but Facebook just seems so out of place (and already somewhat disliked for being intrusive). 

And now people are finding evidence of supportive comments being astro turfing by Facebook.  Occulus is losing a shitload of their fanbase and support (Minecraft Occulus was just canceled)

[idolminds]

Yup, no more Minecraft Oculus.

[Xessive]

Man, I can't imagine what the founders of Oculus are going through.

[idolminds]

"People on the internet are upset at us!"
"We just got paid $2,000,000,000."

*laughter*

[Xessive]

"People on the internet are upset at us!"
"We just got paid $2,000,000,000."

*laughter*

Haha exactly!

[Quemaqua]

So weird. I didn't care to begin with because VR doesn't interest me in the slightest and never has, but man. I'd be fucking pissed if I backed that.

[Cobra951]

[MysterD]

Court decides Zenimax to be awarded $500 million from Facebook/Oculus lawsuit; and John Carmack responds:
http://www.pcgamer.com/john-carmack-posts-angry-response-to-zenimax-lawsuit-loss-on-facebook/

[Quemaqua]

Still don't know what to make of that mess.

[Cobra951]

This kind of lawsuit is all about money.  Zenimax and their lawyers found a way to get some.  It's a civil case, where the burden of proof is little more than a coin toss.  The Oculus crowd should have settled out of court.  That's the only sensible thing to do unless there's practically no doubt about the facts.  A settlement out of court would have precluded any attributions of guilt, or publicly disclosed payments either way.  And it would have been a hell of a lot cheaper.

I should add that their only hope now is that the appeals court finds error in the legal proceedings.  It can't rule on findings of fact.