Facebook Oculus Rift Buyout: What It Might Mean For Gamers

The Facebook Oculus Rift buyout has been the subject of much debate recently, turning the device hardly anyone really cared about into something we have decided to generally avoid. Initially it was a point of curiosity that virtual reality gaming could become the real next generation after relatively disappointing releases from Sony and Microsoft.

Sony sees serious potential though, and has already announced and revealed their Project Morpheus as a competitor for Oculus Rift. The virtual reality gaming device wasn’t a widely interesting idea, however, until the social network that Mark Zuckerberg built offered the Oculus Rift developers a heavy payday.

You have to admit that even if a company you think is generally unimpressive suddenly offers you two billion dollars for your product, the money makes the motion tempting. It would be about the equivalent of Walmart offering Nintendo a fat payday for the rights to the Wii U. Nintendo would have to be almost stupid to say no.

The public hasn’t seen it that way. Instead we’re getting nightmare visuals of Farmville or Candy Crush in virtual reality, with Zynga getting more control over the game releases than Ubisoft or Respawn (the developers behind Assassin’s Creed and Titanfall, respectively). If the headset proves itself under Facebook, and gamers find it isn’t as bad as they thought, we could see Minecraft come back.

Is the Facebook Oculus Rift acquisition really that terrible? It doesn’t have to be. Mark Zuckerberg may just see potential in the virtual reality gaming device and might not actually exert any control over it. There was a time when Microsoft and Sony were considered outsiders in the world of video gaming, while Nintendo and Sega were the ones to compete with. Pioneers are what have kept gaming interesting throughout the decades.

The merging of video games and online communication has made some leaps through the years. The Facebook Oculus Rift deal might simply be the chance to use Facebook Messenger (aside from Skype, one of the best free messengers available) to chat while playing Watch Dogs 2 or Grand Theft Auto 6 in a more immersive environment than ever. We now have Skype on Xbox One and so far it’s been a successful prospect, offering streaming video chatting while you play Call of Duty: Ghosts.

Why the internet is wrong about Facebook buying Oculus Rift… http://t.co/nhRzebYKwa

— NowGamer Team (@NowGamer_Feed) March 30, 2014

Oculus Rift could easily be on the verge of competing with that console you’ve had for months now, and might finally take the need for a big screen HDTV out of gaming. If you’re not a gamer and you wish you could watch more TV, this is a plus for you, freeing up the big screen while the gamer in your home starts enjoying their pastime more than ever.

The Facebook Oculus Rift buyout could simply be the shot in the arm the gaming industry needs to revolutionize itself for this generation.

[image via technobuffalo, cultofandroid]