They aren't looking for any financial windfalls, but developers were nearly as angry as Kickstarter supporters over Facebook's decision to acquire virtual reality (VR) firm Oculus and what it may mean for mobile VR gaming.
Facebook spent $2 billion on Oculus, maker of the Oculus Rift VR headset, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg promising the acquisition would be focused on "helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games." Oculus got its start on the Kickstarter crowdfunding site.
Based on how game developers responded, however, Facebook will need more than bags of money to accomplish that.
We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.
— Markus Persson (@notch) March 25, 2014
All I will say about this whole occulus rift acquisition is they should seriously consider re-branding it as Faceblock.
— Matthew Higby (@mhigby) March 26, 2014
Most developers seemed primarily disappointed at what they saw for Oculus Rift's potential, particularly in areas like Android mobile gaming.
I can't help but think that we just lost the occulus rift for gaming.
— bartwe (@bartwerf) March 26, 2014
Of course, developers are pragmatic people, and it wasn't hard for them to comprehend the motives of the Oculus team.
@bartwerf It'd probably be difficult - for most people - to walk away from 2 billion dollars.
— Leth (@griffinmatta) March 26, 2014
Sad about Occulus. RIP.
— Pasquale D'Silva (@pasql) March 25, 2014
Some suggested the deal was a way for Facebook to accelerate its arrival in a segment where it will eventually need traction anyway.
RT @verge Facebook reports 1 billion active users on mobile devices and 200 million users on Instagram http://t.co/ckuQ4xMaFg //0 on Occulus
— Jason Oakley (@WauloK) March 25, 2014
While they wait to see how this all plays out, some wondered what the acquisition will mean for Oculus--and Facebook--competitors.
Facebook buys Occulus, Sony's stock goes up 3%.
— Alex J. Champandard (@alexjc) March 26, 2014