Facebook has just acquired Oculus VR for $2 Billion, in the form of $400 million cash and 23.1 million Facebook shares. Oculus Rift has come a very long way from just a Kickstarter concept to a fully fledged company’s cutting edge reality that’s receiving praise amongst most tech media. Virtual Reality technology has matured from sci-fi movies to Oculus Rift and Project Morpheus, Sony’s PlayStation VR device that was recently announced. Mark Zuckerberg issued a statement regarding the suprising new acquisition by Facebook (they’ve been buying everything except for sneakers these days).
Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we’re in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.
This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it’s different from anything they’ve ever experienced in their lives. – Mark Zuckerberg
Expect more news later today. Congrats to both parties.
via Facebook