Facebook has announced it has bought virtual reality technology company Oculus VR for a hefty $2 billion (£1.2 billion). The company is behind exciting new virtual reality technology the Oculus Rift.
So yeah, nobody really saw that one coming. Facebook, which seems to be buying up everything in sight, will pay $400m in cash and 23m shares which are worth $1.6bn (£970m).
The news came as an announcement from Facebook. Facebook congratulated Oculus VR for building a solid following of game developers but continued to note how virtual reality is soon to expand.
Facebook has bought the company for the future; it predicts virtual reality technology will soon feature in more entertainment industries and soon communication. It seems Facebook thinks social networking will soon use virtual reality technology.
"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."
Co-founder and CEO of Oculus VR, Brendan Iribe, said in a statement, "We are excited to work with Mark and the Facebook team to deliver the very best virtual reality platform in the world.
“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 VR has expanded quickly. It was a small start-up in 2012 formed by then 21-year-old Palmer Luckey. After a Kickstarter campaign for the Oculus Rift raised over $2 million the company has gone from strength to strength.
The company just announced its second development kit headset. It’s called the Dev Kit 2 which brings high definition displays and a much better head-tracking technology. It’s aiming to eliminate motion blur which caused sickness in some users of the original headset.
Zuckerberg took to Facebook to further explain his vision for the technology. He said in a post, "After games, we're going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home.”
"Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can't wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us."
Sony recently announced its own virtual reality headset, Project Morpheus, which accompanies the PlayStation 4.
by jamesp via Featured Articles
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