Facebook Acquires Virtual Reality Startup Oculus VR For $2 Billion

After buying the popular mobile messaging service WhatsApp for $19 billion last month, Facebook has made another big acquisition today. This time the social network has acquired virtual reality hardware firm Oculus VR for $2 billion. Founded by Palmer Luckey, Brendan Iribe, Michael Antonov, and Nate Mitchell, Oculus makes the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality headset mainly used for 3D gaming.

“Mobile is the platform of today, and now we’re also getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow. Oculus has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play, and communicate”, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. Facebook has bough the 18 month old Oculus VR in a deal that include $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock.

The Oculus Rift which is yet to be officially released has received 75,000 orders for development kits according to Facebook. Irrespective of the acquisition, Oculus VR will stay in its California headquarters and will continue to produce the Oculus Rift headset.Over the next decade, Oculus predicts that virtual reality will become affordable and ubiquitous, giving people an opportunity to learn, communicate and experience the world in new ways.

Speaking about the acquisition, Oculus VR co-founder and CEO Brendan Iribe said in a statement,“We believe virtual reality will be heavily defined by social experiences that connect people in magical, new ways. It is a transformative and disruptive technology, that enables the world to experience the impossible, and it’s only just the beginning.”

 Oculus VR is  Facebook’s first foray into hardware. It is not clear what are the social networks plan with this acquisition but it seems that it is planning to tap the growing gaming phenomenon.

Source: Business Insider

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