The social media giant has just announced that it made the $2 billion purchase of one of the most revered gaming start ups in the industry, Oculus VR. In the press release Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg says “”Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.”
The California based virtual reality company has been releasing development kits for the much anticipated peripheral for a few years now with the intention to bring virtual reality to everyday gaming in the near future. The purchase will not be finalized until the second quarter of this year with about $400 million being cash buyouts and the rest Facebook stock, according to Kotaku.
“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.” says Brian Iribe, CEO and co-founder of Oculus in a press release.
Facebook recently acquired the mobile texting app Whatsapp for $19 billion and picture sharing database Instagram. Oculus Rift is their biggest non-communication related purchase to date.
On upside: $2B is a lot for a promising company that’s barely shipped a barely usable product. On downside: ugh. http://t.co/0VUPrmeeoR
Nice! Thanks for the info! 🙂