By now we all know that Facebook acquired Oculus VR for two billion dollars. A lot of fans aren't exactly happy about the deal, but what do developers think? After all they're the ones that will have to develop games for the headset, or will find themselves on the other side of the trenches as competitors.
As expected, quite a few posted their opinion on Twitter. Some are "creeped out," while others see the deal in a definitely more positive light.
Below you can see a selection of those comments, as it's always interesting to see what those that actually work in the industry think of this kind of earthquake.
Tim Moss, Sony Santa Monica Director of Technology:
So I wake up with the distinct feeling that Occulus is just the start for FB. How would everyone react if they buy Unity?
Yeah, it's just so left-field that it has to be part of a bigger move.
Facebooks big problem is everyone uses it but no-one likes it. It's a vital, interactive address book drowning in advertising.
Mike Niederquell , Sony Santa Monica Senior Sound Designer:
Facebook just bought Oculus Rift. I'm now awaiting the Amazon and Facebook merger.
Think of the reach Facebook will have with the Oculus technology. It will be much greater than just the hardcore #GameDev community.
What they do with this technology is still unknown. Which is what everyone seems to be more curious (fearful) of.
Brian Upton, Sony Santa Monica Senior Game Designer:
If I thought VR would amount to anything then Facebook buying #Oculus would be great news for Sony.
Aaron Kaufman, Sony Santa Monica Community Strartegist:
The next wave in Facebook Advertising - Virtual Reality, lets think about that for a moment.
Now you can view your FULL Facebook organic reach in virtual reality, & pretend what it would be like to reach +1% engagement before you pay.
Rob Davis, Sony Santa Monica Senior Game Designer:
Today #Oculus made me cry : (
@jonathanhawkins@scottfeed The dream is dead :(((((
Shane Liesegang, Somy Santa Monica Senior Game Designer:
John Carmack now works for Facebook?
Didn't see that coming....
"Oculus [can] create the most social platform ever." At least one of those words doesn't mean what you think.
Robert Krekel, Naughty Dog Sound designer:
Wouldn't it be nice if Oculus gave all their kickstarter backers BACK their money with interest after getting 2FUCKING Billion from facebook.
To be clear: I never said Oculus owed its backers anything. I said "wouldn't it be nice?" There's nothing wrong or damning about that.
Shahid Ahmad, Sony Computer Entertainment Senior Business Development Manager:
The thing I don’t get about this Facebook / Oculus thing is: Isn’t a social network that is virtually real going to compete with real life?
Dylan Cuthbert, Q-games Lead Designer:
Wow just wow at the oculus sell out to Facebook, ah well.. Farewell oculus, here comes Morpheus.
Unless it's just a mistimed April 1st prank? Zuckerberg is going to be all like 'nyaaaa gotcha' next week.
Makes total sense, suddenly everyone realises sony is also doing something right RT @alexjc: Facebook buys Occulus, Sony's stock goes up 3%.
George Broussard, 3D Realms Lead Designer:
Facebook buys Oculus for 2 billion. This is like Alderaan being blown up in Star Wars.
No Kickstarter backer of Oculus should be mad. Height of entitlement. You don't own their future. You can be disappointed, though.
Oculus was getting bought by someone, regardless. VC backed all the way. Exit guaranteed at some point. I get the disappointment.
They took 75m+ in VC money. It was inevitable. But I wish someone other than FB bought them. I wish they'd held out longer.
Nikolaus Gebhardt, Ambiera Designer:
Facebook acquired Oculus, lots of people don't like it. I do, and I'll continue development. It's 90% finished in CopperCube already : )
Markus Persson, Mojang Founder:
We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.
More on Persson's opinion can be found here.
Daniel Kaplan, Mojang Business Developer (maybe he didn't see the memo above):
I hope with the oculus+fb deal maybe I wont be considered such a geek anyway. I havent cared before but moar People = bigger sales of oculus.
Dean Evans, Ubisoft Creative Director:
Love reading on peoples Facebook how much they are disgusted by Facebook buying Oculus. Way to go people.
Ashraf Ismail, Ubisoft Game Director:
So Carmack now works for Facebook!?!
David Walgrave, Larian Studios Producer:
Oh come on. It's not as if Skynet has gained consciousness or anything.
Sean Murray, Hello Games Director:
One time I bought a PS3 and TV the same month, then couldn't afford to go out. I guess all I'm saying is don't run out of billions @facebook.
Hazel McKendrick, Hello Games Coder:
Aww no, I was just putting my $1.8 billion offer together too : ( You win this round, Zuckerburg.
Guys if you haven't tweeted about Occufacebook yet you have about 2 minutes to think of something, then it will be Old News.
Jeremy Soule, Composer:
Tommy Refenes, Team Meat Co-CEO:
I don't understand the Oculus hate. Yes its Facebook, but I don't think they bought it to squash it, I think they bought it to develop it.
John Carmack, Oculus VR CTO:
For the record, I am coding right now, just like I was last week.I expect the FB deal will avoid several embarrassing scaling crisis for VR.
I can't follow the volume of tweets today, so if you want a real answer to something, try in a couple days after things die down.
I have a deep respect for the technical scale that FB operates at. The cyberspace we want for VR will be at this scale.
I suppose I will get a FB account now, so that may lead to some writing a little longer than tweet length...
Will the acquisition propel Oculus VR to new and higher success, or will it spell disaster on the pioneers of modern VR? We'll have to wait and see, but developers seem to be quite divided about the issue, and they're probably in a better position to know what this deal entails than we are.
[Featured picture courtesy of Jason Foral]