--: Virtual Reality: Sharing or Gaming?

Virtual Reality: Sharing or Gaming?

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Image: TechRadar

Facebook recently announced its acquisition of Oculus VR, developer of the Oculus Rift virtual reality apparatus, for $2 billion dollars. Oculus Rift made its debut on Kickstarter, advertising itself as 'the first truly immersive virtual reality headset for video games', and raising over $2.4 million from investors, $2 million more than its initial goal. Now, in light of the acquisition by social media giant Facebook, early supporters of Oculus Rift are skeptical that Mark Zuckerburg's intentions for Oculus Rift might deviate from its original intended purposes, and are denouncing the acquisition as a sellout that does not uphold the values of the investors.
This situation provides a unique insight into the nature of crowdfunded projects, which are growing rapidly in popularity. The investors' position is understandable, as their initial investments were made in support of a gaming company, which has apparently changed its ideals before even debuting on the market. However, this is a very recent development, and Kickstarter explicitly states that project creators keep 100% ownership of their work. In other words, investing in a project on Kickstarter isn't merely an economic contribution, investors must also invest their trust in the project team, who in this case has acknowledged the apparently incompatible nature of the acquisition, and has urged the public to consider the deal more carefully.
Posting on the company website, the Oculus VR team claims that they and Facebook are 'culturally aligned with a focus on innovating and hiring the best and the brightest' in an attempt to justify the merger. It seems that only time will tell whether the investors are correct in their suspicions, or if this is a blessing in disguise for the gaming fans.

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Stanley Ng

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