We’ve heard it in the comments for the longest time. “Microsoft should just buy Oculus” a lot of you would say over and over again. The integration between Oculus and the Xbox One would have been a welcomed feature to most. Sadly, that won’t happen. Facebook just bought Oculus.
Facebook is on a buying spree. Last month they bought WhatsApp for $19 billion. Last year Facebook picked up Instagram for $1 billion. Now Oculus is joining the stable in Menlo Park for $2 billion.
Facebook and Oculus? Weird, right? The Oculus team says Facebook shares the same goal of creating the best virtual reality platform in the world. Here’s the Oculus team on the acquisition:
“At first glance, it might not seem obvious why Oculus is partnering with Facebook, a company focused on connecting people, investing in internet access for the world and pushing an open computing platform. But when you consider it more carefully, we’re culturally aligned with a focus on innovating and hiring the best and brightest; we believe communication drives new platforms; we want to contribute to a more open, connected world; and we both see virtual reality as the next step.Most important, Facebook understands the potential for VR. Mark and his team share our vision for virtual reality’s potential to transform the way we learn, share, play, and communicate. Facebook is a company that believes that anything is possible with the right group of people, and we couldn’t agree more.”
We’ll admit that Xbox and Oculus integration would have been cool, but Microsoft already has their own product on the horizon – Fortaleza. We first saw Microsoft’s augmented reality glasses in a leaked roadmap for the Xbox in summer 2012. Then last summer, Microsoft filed a patent for augmented reality gaming. While augmented reality isn’t the same as virtual reality, we’re excited to see what’s on the horizon for the Xbox One.
In the meantime, tell us your thoughts on Facebook buying Oculus.
