Facebook Acquires Oculus, A 3D Gaming And Virtual Reality Start-up

Facebook is turning out to be the Alexander the Great of the online world

History repeats itself.

Another acquisition by Facebook. Another storm kicked up!

If you ask Mr. Zuckerberg (CEO, Facebook), he is quite clear about his plans to fully completely rule the social networking world and virtually connect people.

Acquisitions, so far.

In April 2012, Facebook acquired Instagram for USD 1 billion, which proved beneficial to both parties. Instagram grew by 23% and incorporated video sharing in the following year while Facebook eliminated a prominent competitor, thereby enjoying a higher mobile engagement.

Earlier this year, Facebook acquired WhatsApp for USD 19 billion. WhatsApp, en route to connect one billion people, enabled Zuckerberg a new avenue for huge outreach for Facebook.

But was that the only motive?

All this while, we thought that these acquisitions simply meant a wider user end and greater outreach, Facebook’s latest acquisition has reduced the answer to “What is Mark Zuckerberg up-to?” to guesses and rumours. Again.

What are we going on about?

Well, Facebook recently acquired Oculus VR, the budding 3D gaming and virtual reality startup for USD 2 Billion.

It’s clear that Zuckerberg thrives to watch social networking inculcate 3D technology and is leaving no pebble unturned (kindly note, going out and talking to people is conveniently ignored in the world of technology, when it comes to social networking).

Zuckerberg was quoted as saying, “This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures”.

A little more about Oculus VR

Oculus VR is a startup, founded by Palmer Luckey and Scaleform Corporation in 2012, indulging users in three-dimensional gaming alongside Facebook’s plans henceforth.

The Oculus Rift (rumored to hit stores in early 2015) is a headset providing a virtual portal to the gaming world with Zuckerberg having even bigger plans for it!

Hours after the acquisition, Luckey justified the recent course of events by announcing: “The partnership accelerates our vision, allows us to execute on some of our most creative ideas and take risks that were otherwise impossible. Most importantly, it means a better Oculus Rift with fewer compromises even faster than we anticipated”.

Limited capital investment for new technology is a major obstacle and Luckey, 21, has fittingly expressed that money is what they need and money is what they get.

Many are skeptical of the latest Facebook interventions (read: acquisitions), and rightly so. Advertisements and privacy concerns have long since been a sour spot with Facebook. Despite assurances confirming complete independence at the operations front from various companies that are slowly falling under mother Facebook, users are concerned about their applications and features being influenced by the networking giant in a negative fashion.

Facebook however, has made its intentions clear — while it aims to connect the global population in the future, it also supports open software development.

Oculus clearly showed a lot of potential and drew Facebook’s attention.

“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow’, said Facebook founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg. “Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate”.

Facebook is turning out to be the Alexander the Great of the online world and who knows how large an empire it will make. Should Google be perturbed just yet?

Originally published at Chip-Monks.