Facebook buys oculus for $2 Billion

Well it didn't take long for the kickstarter backers to demand their money back.

Link- http://kotaku.com/oculus-kickstarter-backers-are-demanding-refunds-1552041702

I wonder what excuse they will use as I don't see it happening though.
It's not happening. I can sympathize with all those backers.
If I did, and I didn't support Oculus' kickstarted project, I'd be very angy learning that in the end I've donated money to a company I hate and don't want to have anything with - Facebook.

But we actually needed this to happen. Projects of Oculus Rift size shouldn't be crowdfunded. It was obvious from the start it's not yet another cheap USB gadget but is something millions will turn around. It's designed as exactly what google, facebook and alike want - a road everyone, or at least a kind of majority, will have to walk through. And when you own a road, you own an advertisment space.

Such projects, where it's obvious they can't stay independant, should be avoided by "regular" backers on KS. Why would we in the end support big and evil companies?
As you already know, I'm not backing any MMO. Guess why? Yes, exactly because of that. I hate Perfect World Entertainment scam systems. And I would be furious if a game I backed was sold to PWE. Luckily, they're not interested into singleplayer RPGs.

I'm now waiting for GothicGothicness to say how would she feel if a game she supported on KS was in the end sold to EA. :D
 
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People are simply irrational is all. They want a project to become popular, but remain a niche gaming toy manufactured in some guy's garage. World doesn't work like that.

It should also be obvious that the Kickstarter system is screwing over pledgers from the very beginning . I would personally forego all the junk swag for x amount of company stock if you pledge above a certain threshold. But things don't work like that either… and your pledge is with full knowledge of what you are (and are not) entitled to. A piece of that $2 billion or a voice in the company's direction 2 years after the fact is not part of that entitlement.
 
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If only KS was an investing platform. :)
It is not. If it was, I'd be happy to buy a few shares in Obsidian. And Larian. ;)
 
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Ouch this will hurt kickstarter projects big time, atleast hardware related ones.

And this certainly proves that Oculus rift had potential. I can understand angry backers. This certainly feels like a sacrilege against the spirit of kickstarting.

And the buyer had to be facebook ugghhh :puke:

Then again something like this was bound to happen, because donating money is always a leap of faith to some degree. Likely people will become more cautious with their donations from this point on :)
 
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Doesn't affect my approach to kickstarter in any way. When I put money in a project, I treat it as a cheap pre-purchase, simple as that. After I receive the product/game, that's it. I don't know why some feel entitled to anything here, they did receive their Oculus Rift, didn't they?
 
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If someone backed this in the hope of helping this project to become successful, this would actually be great news, no? ... I understand of course why people are upset, but maybe we need to think a little more about what we actually want to achieve with backing KS projects, and what the backer-project owner relationship really entails or should entail.
 
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If someone backed this in the hope of helping this project to become successful, this would actually be great news, no? … I understand of course why people are upset, but maybe we need to think a little more about what we actually want to achieve with backing KS projects, and what the backer-project owner relationship really entails or should entail.

That would depend on what you mean by success, I'd say.

I'm not a Rift backer - but I would never want a greed-driven party to have the power to control the future of anything I support.

That's because I think passion and talent is much, much more important to have as the primary drive rather than profit.

But that's me.
 
GBG, that's not the view on things backers share. They don't see it as a success, but as a capitulation.
Backers didn't back the project just to get Oculus Rift. They've backed the project because they wanted to back a likable small independant company where getting a gadget prototype was just a bonus. They didn't want to give a single cent to Facebook. It was like helping david in the fight against goliath.
Even if they were promised a dozen of Oculus Rift prototypes, they wouldn't give money to Facebook. And all their money is now where? In Facebook.

wolfing, you're not wrong about the whole thing. Once you back the project it's a done deal. There is no contract between you and project owners that would say "we won't sell the company to facebook". The problem is many don't, didn't and can't understand this. Luckily, it happened in reality now which will definetly affect hardware projects as already mentioned by other posters. All those people who backed or symphatize with Oc. Rift backers will not back another hardware project soon.
Why am I saying "luckily"? Because who is stupid enough to donate money to Facebook? Okay, perhaps there is someone who thinks pouring a water into a sea is not stupid.
 
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The backers wanted to help the pirates build a ship. Now the pirates sold themselves and their ship to the Royal Navy. ;)
 
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I can understand people being disappointed because this isn't the outcome they had in mind when the backed OR.

OTH, none of these angry backer would turn down 2 billion dollars either Im sure. That's just too much money to walk away from.

I'm more interested in what Facebook plans to do with it to recoup 2 billion and then start making some profit. Especially when MS and sony start competing in this market.

I did read somewhere about them wanting to tie an AppStore to it which made me throw up a little in my mouth.
 
The backers wanted to help the pirates build a ship. Now the pirates sold themselves and their ship to the Royal Navy. ;)

Actually in this case it was more like helping the navy who later got corrupted by dirty money coming from pirates' laundry.
 
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Haha, I remember when Facebook was the upstart and new and cool. Just like Google... But as I said I fully understand. I guess I think we need actual crowd investment platforms, where people buy equity, along with whatever reward... That would be much more appropriate for a project like Oculus rift. KS was originally targeting arts and performances mainly, IIRC, and that colours our expectations. On the other hand I have a hard time becoming emotionally invested about a piece of hardware technology (as opposed to games, film or art) "selling out" - but, as D'Aartagnan likes to say - that's just me.
 
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Haha, I remember when Facebook was the upstart and new and cool. Just like Google… But as I said I fully understand. I guess I think we need actual crowd investment platforms, where people buy equity, along with whatever reward… That would be much more appropriate for a project like Oculus rift. KS was originally targeting arts and performances mainly, IIRC, and that colours our expectations. On the other hand I have a hard time becoming emotionally invested about a piece of hardware technology (as opposed to games, film or art) "selling out" - but, as D'Aartagnan likes to say - that's just me.

That's like saying you're not emotionally invested in your penis.

Maybe so - but you'd probably miss it if it wasn't there or someone decided you couldn't have sex with it and you couldn't do anything about it.

Come to think of it, that's called being married, isn't it? ;)
 
One irony in this story that's developing is that FB took a hit from investors who can't see a connection between them and this device. What benefit does it have to their core product? Zuckerburg just threw away $2 billion of their money.

Speaking of which, it would be great PR to give back the cash from the KS. 2.5m is 1% of what they paid for it. They could do something like pay them back in stock or something like that, so those passionate about the product might not consider divorcing themselves from it and FB.

I understand Oculus made a great impression with this at the CES and is already a much better device than the Sony even in prototype.

This is not Google glass. This isn't a device you walk around town with. I once interviewed with a graphics company and they were developing simulators for military use.

I wouldn't be surprised to see FB sell this off at one point like Google did with Motorola. It might be seen as a great investment scheme if they do so.
 
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In related news, Valve's head of their VR product now went to Oculus.
 
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Maybe its a vanity projection from Facebooks side? I dont understand what they could possibly get out of it. Its not like the glasses deliver content, its the device its connect to that does that. If they're going to integrate ads etc. into this then they also need to control the connected device. That means the whole package will be a closed system like Apple. If so, it also means gamers are screwed.
 
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Actually, there's a recording of the shareholder meeting where Facebook announces the acquisition and Zuckerburg goes on about why it's being done. He talks about stores all right but not app stores, he's talking about replacing real stores. Like Amazon but with VR. He even mentions touching the products! He thinks its going to be the next big platform for social interactions, too. I may be a big VR backer but this guy is nuts.

But that's Facebook's vision: VR is the future and they want a piece of the profits. They think (or at least they are telling shareholders they think) that Oculus is going to come out with the best product and make shiploads of money. So that's how Facebook makes money. Not by slapping advertisements all over it. Not by making everybody who uses it use Facebook. They do it just by owning the group that's making the best product out there.

Now that doesn't mean that Facebook isn't going to screw it up somehow. If Facebook makes them waste lots of cash on researching insane applications of VR, for instance, it could ruin the whole thing. Or Facebook could go down in flames for reasons having nothing at all to do with VR and bring Oculus down with them. All in all, though, I think this is most likely to be a beneficial thing.

I'm seeing a lot of wild idealism out there. Let's look at this pre-Facebook. The technology seems solid and the people trying it are really loving it. However, it's a very different way of experiencing games, it costs a few hundred dollars, and it does require some game re-design to use it really well. Some games have already announced Rift support but there was still a good chance of running into the classic "devs won't develop until consumers buy and consumers won't buy until there are games to play" situation.

Now Facebook shows up with 2 billion to acquire and who-knows-how-much after they pull Oculus in. Not only do they have plenty of cash to make the product really great but they've got enough money to either make their own games or pay current game makers to put in Rift support, do an advertising campaign, and have a strong support team for people to call when they have problems!
 
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Well you could see Google heading in that direction. The best way to beat them is to get there first.
 
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Google does (or wants to do) augmented reality. That's quite different from virtual reality.
 
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