Home Gaming Carmack – Facebook gets the big picture behind VR

Carmack – Facebook gets the big picture behind VR

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virtual-reality-helmet

Ever since the announcement of Facebook acquiring Oculus Rift for a cool $2 billion arrived, everyone has had something to say. Now, former id Software genius and current chief technological officer at Oculus Rift John Carmack is throwing his hat into the ring, commenting on his position following the sale of the VR firm.

Writing back in response to a blog post from Peter Berkman of Anamanaguchi, Carmack explained that VR is “too powerful” an experience to grow organically and independently in the same vein that Steam expanded over at Valve through the years.

“The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who,” Carmack said about the sale.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies.

However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don’t make a commitment like they just did on a whim.

As for Facebook being dogged by constant complaints of privacy invasion, Carmack explained that he was well aware of that reputation.“I’m not a ‘privacy is gone, get over it’ sort of person, and I fully support people that want remain unobserved, but that means disengaging from many opportunities,” Carmack said.

The idea that companies are supposed to interact with you and not pay attention has never seemed sane to me. Being data driven is a GOOD thing for most companies to be. Everyone cheers the novel creative insight and bold leadership that leads to some successes, and tut tuts about companies ending up poorly by blindly following data, but cold analysis of the data is incredibly important, and I tend to think the world will be improved with more and better data analysis.

Of course, not everyone has been happy with the deal so far. Backers feel betrayed for helping to fund a project which would have eventually needed funding from outside sources, Notch pulled a free version of Minecraft from the project and Facebook stock hasn’t exactly set Wall Street on a “I wish the flames were real sales fire” yet.

I’m genuinely happy for Oculus Rift. $2 billion isn’t exactly lunch break cash, and it shows that Facebook believes in the technology. And if I can get a VR game out of the deal that allows me to jack into my social network and shoot down baby pictures and inane Farmville knock-off games from my feed, I’ll be damn happy.

Last Updated: March 31, 2014

16 Comments

  1. VR is “too powerful” an experience to grow organically and independently

    Great statement , and so true. I am very happy for OR as well, I do hope their work grows from strength to strength

    Reply

    • Rince

      March 31, 2014 at 15:16

      Agreed man.

      Reply

    • Johan du Preez

      March 31, 2014 at 15:50

      Yup very true!

      Reply

  2. Rince

    March 31, 2014 at 15:15

    I have to agree. VR is a tricky thing. If it is not done PERFECTLY off the bat people will not bother. Different to consoles that can evolve while we use them. The $2 billion may lead to new innovations that will have cross industry applications. Will wait and see.

    Reply

    • FoxOneZA

      March 31, 2014 at 15:30

      And you get to see selfies of the LG team up close with push notifications while you are in the middle of “that level” 😛

      Reply

  3. Kromas

    March 31, 2014 at 15:16

    “Big Picture” “Steam” “Rift”

    HL3 CONFIRMED AS RIFT LAUNCH TITLE!

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief of Auraxis

      March 31, 2014 at 15:20

      O_O

      Reply

      • Kromas

        March 31, 2014 at 15:21

        Let me fix that for you. []D

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief of Auraxis

          March 31, 2014 at 15:22

          Awwwww yeah!!!

          Reply

  4. Alien Emperor Trevor

    March 31, 2014 at 15:17

    Those comments lead me to feel that HE is not entirely sane.

    Reply

  5. Admiral Chief of Auraxis

    March 31, 2014 at 15:20

    • Umar hearts Grandia

      March 31, 2014 at 15:21

      LOL that sounds very very wrong….

      Reply

    • Kromas

      March 31, 2014 at 15:24

      I might even take a break from ESO just to jam this for an hour.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief of Auraxis

        March 31, 2014 at 15:24

        Every day, just jam for 20mins to “destress from the humans”

        Reply

        • Kromas

          March 31, 2014 at 15:29

          Also has best in game achievement ever!

          Involuntary QA (Achievement)

          This achievement is obtained by crashing your Goat Simulator client.
          Can be done easily by clicking ‘Default’ in your key bindings

          Reply

  6. geelslang

    March 31, 2014 at 15:58

    Im glad for the cash injection Oculus got, but its sad that hey got it from Zuckerberg.

    Reply

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