Facebook's Occulus Rift
Facebook has added another company to its portfolio, recent Kickstarter backed company 'Oculus Rift', A VR simulator reminiscent of slightly oversized ski goggles. Goggles which promised to revolutionise the gaming industry… a promise so hoped for, that members of the public donated almost 2.5 million dollars to get it off the ground.
The Oculus Rift was purchased for just under $2 billion, and was originally intended for usage with videogames, although since the buyout the creator of immensely popular game 'Minecraft' has pulled out, stating that Facebook is 'Creepy.
Corporate partnership with such a behemoth could either make or break the simulator. Facebook breaking in to the video game industry however seems unlikely, however with their recent purchase of 'Whatsapp' and 'Instagram', as well as digital wallet 'Acrylic Software', the potential for true immersion in social media is becoming a real possibility.
Realistically, this anger isn't about the companies involved, or even the product itself. What matters here are the differences in ethics between crowd-funded start-ups and Kickstarter. Donators have no say in the direction the company takes, and gain none of the rewards from such a buyout. The ethics of buying out a company that essentially started through charitable donations is sketchy, but the fact remains, Kickstarter has proven to be the real success story.
For those of you who struggle to stay off Facebook, or struggle to support cutting edge technology being used for Farmville, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. TruePlayerGear are in the process of starting their own Kickstarter campaign for a VR simulator of their own, named 'Totem'.
If you still feel safe in crowd-funding, this is the place to drop your cash, although there is no guarantee that these inventors won't be bought out by Facebook's rivals Apple or Google. After all, $2bn is quite an incentive.
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