Oculus Rift Will Be A Platform For Facebook Apps

This article outlines exactly how this deal comes together and shines light on why Zuckerberg wanted it. I would also add that if you were hoping to use your Steam purchased titles on this I don't think that will be happening.

Zuckerberg Wants His Own Platform

"Zuckerberg won over Oculus with his vision for virtual reality as the next big platform. Facebook doesn't have its own platform, its own version of Google's Android operating system, or Apple's App Store. It just has a website and a set of apps. But Oculus could be that platform for Facebook."

I don't see how Facebook will turn the Rift into a Facebook device. The fact that Carmack is still on board tells a great deal. The Rift team needs money and Facebook has money, lots of it.

So why wouldn't Steam games work on this?

And so it begins

Well that title was a bit misleading.

And I'd still rather have one of them than an Xbone.

Par for the course in a kuu2 thread.

a sucky future

Zuckerberg has to find a way to monetize the billion people that use Facebook otherwise he is dead in the water. Having his own platform allows him to do this.

I don't really hate facebook, and I do use it

What does Facebook need?

So what is he gonna do exactly? Drop down the support of oculus and make it facebook only?

Come on get real.

So is any web browser, Android, iOS, or any other platform where Facebook can be accessed. You're not making a clear point. You want to spin this as the focus of Oculus has changed from VR to some sort of a dedicated Facebook app device but that's not what's going on at all.

Furthemore that quote you are quoting is actually what the author of the article said, not what Zuckerberg or anybody at Oculus has said.

Everything by Oculus themselves and Mark Zuckerberg himself states that Oculus is its own independent company and how nothing is going to change with their original ideas. They aren't going to be making it Facebook exclusive and somehow lock the hardware out of being used as a monitor for video games. Remember, the Rift isn't some always-online piece of software, it's just a monitor with sensors.

Even your own article contradicts what you're implying...

That definitely happened for Zuckerberg. According to Iribe, after trying the headset, Zuckerberg said, "So that was probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen in my life, and maybe ever will see." He followed that declaration with a question: "How can I help?"

Iribe said he wasn't sure that a floating window of a Facebook app would be very popular in virtual reality.

"That's not what I'm talking about," Zuckerberg said. "We'd like to help you. What other big problems do you have?"

So basically you can choose to ignore all of them and make up these wild accusations about how Oculus Rift can't be used to play Steam games or you can just accept the fact that Oculus Rift hasn't changed at all.

Let me repeat myself. The Oculus Rift is not a piece of locked down software or some stand alone device like a tablet or cell phone. It's a monitor. A monitor that needs an input from a PC to display an image. It communicates positional data through sensors much like track IR and then the PC displays a uniquely formatted image to the monitor. That's it. The Oculus Rift is not a platform like iOS/Android. It's not going to be limited by some app store controlled by Facebook. None of that makes any sense and it's the exact opposite of what everybody at Oculus and Facebook have said about the device.

Oculus Rift will take Farmville to the next level.

Oculus Rift will take Farmville to the next level.

The Oculus Rift preventing Steam games from being played would be like a monitor preventing Steam games from being played. It's ludicrous. How any of you can even remotely think that would be a possibility is laughable.

Whole lotta conjecture.

This thread should be locked. The title doesn´t reflect what the cited article is about.

Agreed. TC is simply flamebaiting.

yes, i demand that tc be banned with immediate effect. this sort of behaviour is simply unacceptable

We aren't talking about web browsers we are talking about a way for Facebook to bring in money from its product (users).

Itunes

Google store

Msoft Store

Steam

Those are all platforms that make money off of people buying things.

Now that being said there will be games but you won't be able to buy said game on Steam and play it on Oculus since Oculus will more than likely have its own store. Just like you can't play Xbox games on a Sony system. They might be the same game but they won't be interchangeable with this device.

What incentive is there to Facebook to have games purchased on Steam and played on their device?

If you believe Facebook will use Rift for casual games like FarmVille, you'd probably be very wrong.

Facebook already stated earlier they want to offer more "core" games. Although, they didn't do much on that matter by now, but by purchasing Rift, they're heading to that direction. Hopefully.

The Rift is a monitor, not a platform, piece of software, or a store. There is no Oculus store, no Oculus exclusive apps, none of that. Apps do not run on the Rift. The PS4/Xbox One could easily support the Rift as it's just a set of inputs and outputs. There is no processing or anything done on the Rift itself. Games output a video to the Rift and can, if they are programmed to, take motion control input gathered from the sensors on the Rift and apply it to camera movements in the game/application. There is nothing more to it.

You just named off a bunch of software stores, not a single one of them is a piece of hardware. You don't even know what you're talking about.

Facebook is trying to open up a demand for VR software and then exploit that demand through their own proprietary applications. That's their long term goal. They also probably want Oculus to generate its own income through hardware sales, so they are putting down an initial investment to make sure the hardware is good enough where people would actually want to buy it. Profits will come later when they've got their production methods, assembly, and distribution all figured out.

I wish everyone will take a chill pill relax and see where this is going before start condemning occulus just because facebook bought them. Hell if they want to use it for facebook stuff thats fine by me as long as they are still committed to pc games as their first and most important goal

Facebook brought the product not the company that created it. And yes people really need to relax and see how this pans out

iTunes+iPod

Google Store+Android tablets and phones

Microsoft Store+Surface

Facebook Store+Oculus Rift

Makes perfect sense to me.

No one has been able to give any good reason why Facebook would want Oculus...............

It ain't so Facebook can let Oculus run on its own and not make money for Facebook that is for sure.

Manufacturing hardware as a main profit motivator is a race to the bottom without apps that are proprietary to that hardware.

You are assuming that said games can come from anywhere and be used on their device. I have news for you they won't be.

Anywhere? Nope. Where did I write that? But I do assume Rift will be used for more hardcore games on Facebook.

Uh, where are you getting this news from? Please provide a source

No one is denying that hardcore games won't come from Facebook, what I am saying is that said games won't be available on Steam or some other platform to be played on Oculus.

Oculus will handle the hardware and Facebook will be the platform for the games. Built in friends lists, chat, Gamerscore, app store, are all built in to Facebook now.

Based on what?

That is not fact, simply my opinion.

Why would Facebook allow you to play games (from other app stores) on their hardware when more than likely said hardware will have very little margin attached or none at all?

To convince people to buy the hardware

We'll have to wait and see. I'm sure Facebook will have some kind of licensing program for other services like Steam.

Selling an expensive hardware that works exclusively on an unproven gaming platform is stupid. Then again, we're talking about Facebook which overpaid both WhatsApp and Rift.

Facebook couldn't care less about the hardware side of this. It is simply a delivery device just like Wasdie said. Now pair that with over a billion people to market to, give them a place to shop for games, interactive apps twenty four seven, and a revolutionary way to experience them and you actually have a business plan.

Not only do you have absolutely nothing to back your claim with, it's still extremely illogical. Why would Facebook arbitrarily limit the amount of software that can use the Oculus Rift? If you were stuck to only Facebook approved apps nobody would buy it.

Steam games will work fine. There is nothing in place that prevents Steam games from using the Rift. Facebook will most likely create their own VR store to distribute their own software in the future (if they even do that, I think Facebook has even higher-level things in mind) but they aren't going to lock out anybody.

Who would buy this thing if you can't play the games you want on it? Nobody would buy it. The product would die and their market would die along with it. There is no business plan there. Alternatives will kill Oculus Rift within a year or so as nobody is going to buy an expensive peripheral if they can't play their games on it.

You don't make your game for Oculus, you build a game and then allow it to use Oculus. There are already a lot of games on Steam that have Oculus support. This isn't going to go away. Facebook isn't going to lock down the API. Without content nobody will bother purchasing an Oculus Rift. I don't really think you understand the nature of this product. This isn't a device that can be locked down like you're saying.

Again, people not understanding how the Rift works or how business works.

The Rift doesn't play the games or run the software, it's just a screen. Also Facebook integrating stuff for it doesn't mean games will suddenly have ads or pop ups for Facebook. That's still entirely up to the dev to do

In its current form no, but Facebook and Oculus can change that pretty easily.

Despite all of the misguided speculation from the pessimists, id still rather have an Oculus Rift than both an XBONE AND a PS4. I cant wait for the consumer version!

To not make the 2 billion investment go to waste. If it won't support open API nobody will make games for it. So the most Facebook would achieve is giving the market to whoever comes with similiar PC device.The movement to VR has already started on PC. By being open device Rift stands to gain dominance in the market, but there are many competitors that will gladly take over if Facebook would do something as dumb as close the device into their own app store.

If they really do intend for the oculus to have its own dedicated storefront, then its already a no buy.

@kuu2: You mean like selling all their personal info to marketing companies?

To the hardcore gamer maybe but if you thought Facebook was concerned about hardcore gaming then you would be mistaken. They didn't buy Oculus to make money off the hardcore gamer they bought it to make money off their billion person network.

And yet you have people in this thread telling you that Oculus is only a display device.

This.

@kuu2: It is only a display device. You're trying to turn it into something it's not and then make up accusations based upon that.

Poor herms. :(