Facebook Buys Oculus
Two days ago, Facebook announced they're buying Oculus for $2 billion.
I backed the Kickstarter in August 2012. $300 for an early dev kit and Doom 3 BFG. A kid in his garage, Carmack's endorsement, the promise of real VR after decades of failed attempts.
Now it's Facebook's.
The internet is furious. Notch canceled Minecraft support: "Facebook creeps me out". Kickstarter backers feel betrayed. I get it. We funded an indie hardware project, not a Facebook subsidiary.
But here's the thing: VR is hard. Really hard. The DK2 they just announced at GDC looks incredible, but getting from dev kit to consumer product requires serious capital. Facebook has serious capital. A billion for Instagram two years ago. Two billion for this.
Zuckerberg says VR is "the next major computing platform". Maybe. The form factor isn't there yet. Neither is anything else. No apps, no ecosystem, no way to actually be with someone in VR and have it feel real.
My DK1 sits mostly unused. Hard to strap a brick to your face when you have a family. But the trajectory is clear.
The question isn't whether VR will matter. It's whether Facebook is the right home.
I don't know. I do know Palmer Luckey gets to keep building. That's worth something.
[Update: December 2016]
In January, Oculus announced that all Kickstarter backers who pledged for a dev kit would get a free consumer Rift. I'd ordered a DK2 after the acquisition. Never unboxed it. But the free Rift arrived this summer.
