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Palmer Luckey has taken to Reddit to address some of the concerns being raised in the wake of Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus.
Among the statements are assertions that it will result in a lower RRP for the consumer version of Rift, a shorter wait for a full release and the protection of open development software.
Most of all, Luckey is 100 per cent certain” that most people will in the fullness of time see the deal as a good thing for both Oculus and the VR movement.
Here’s a selection of his replies from Reddit last night:
I won’t change, and any change at Oculus will be for the better. We have even more freedom than we had under our investment partners because Facebook is making a long term play on the success of VR, not short-term returns.
A lot of people are upset, and I get that. If you feel the same way a year from now, I would be very surprised.”
I am 100% certain that most people will see why this is good in the long term.”
This deal specifically lets us greatly lower the price of the Rift.”
It is enough to bring a consumer product to market, but not the consumer product we really wish we could ship. This deal is going to immediately accelerate a lot of plans that were languishing on our wishlist, and the resulting hardware will be better AND cheaper. We have the resources to create custom hardware now, not just rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. There is a lot of good news on the way that is not yet public, so believe me, things will become a lot more clear over time.”
If anything, our hardware and software will get even more open, and Facebook is onboard with that.”
This deal will definitely make things better. You are right, we have struggled to properly support indie devs because we had to focus our limited resources on our closest partners, that has been a failing that I want to fix. Indie developers are the ones driving this VR revolution more than anyone else, and one of my personal goals has been to support them in a much stronger way.”
This is about the best possible outcome for the future of virtual reality, not my wallet.”
We could have made more money down the road, but this deal was not about making the most money. It was about doing the best thing for the long term future of virtual reality.”
Facebook is making a long term bet on VR, not a short term run on profit. We have more freedom to do what we want now that our investment partners are out of the picture.”
We have not gotten into all the details yet, but a lot of the news is coming. The key points:
1) We can make custom hardware, not rely on the scraps of the mobile phone industry. That is insanely expensive, think hundreds of millions of dollars. More news soon.
2) We can afford to hire everyone we need, the best people that fit into our culture of excellence in all aspects.
3) We can make huge investments in content. More news soon.”
If I ever need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift, I’m done. You will not need a Facebook account to use or develop for the Rift.
If I ever see Facebook branding on anything that’s not optional, I’m done. Not really reasonable in a literal sense, but I get your drift.
If I ever see ads on anything that I’ve already paid for, I’m done. That is a developer decision, not our decision. If someone wants to sell a game with built-in ads, they will have to deal with the natural consequences.”
We are not going to lock people out because they compete. We have been working on a variety of first party applications, but are completely open to community equivalents. It would be arrogant of us to assume that our solutions will be the best solutions, users can decide for themselves.”
