• Oculus Rift wants to make a billion person MMO "Do we want to be Gameboy or iPhone?"
    77 replies, posted
[URL]http://www.theverge.com/2014/5/5/5684236/oculus-wants-to-build-a-billion-person-mmo-with-facebook[/URL] [QUOTE]When Facebook purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion, both companies stayed fairly tight-lipped about their goals. The money would help Oculus build virtual reality headsets cheaper and better, while Facebook would have a chance to lead the next big computing platform. However, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe just told an audience at TechCrunch Disrupt about one lofty possibility for the pair: building a massively multiplayer experience for one billion simultaneous users. "This is going to be an MMO where we want to put a billion people in VR," he told attendees. While Iribe admits that a billion-person MMO is "going to take a bigger network than exists in the world today," he says Facebook's network makes a great place to start, and suggested it could be a Metaverse that joins disparate virtual worlds. Getting to one billion users may also have been the reason Oculus decided to join up with Facebook instead of a traditional gaming company. While Iribe says Oculus is still as committed to games as ever, the company realized that a focus on games could artificially limit its reach. "Do you want to build a platform that has a billion users on it, or only 10, 20, or 50 million?" asks Iribe, noting that dedicated game systems don't sell nearly as well as mobile devices in the grand scheme of things.[/QUOTE] So now Oculus is going to be bloated with shovelware aimed at the average facebook user instead of actual video games.
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744595]So now Oculus is going to be bloated with shovelware aimed at the average facebook user instead of actual video games.[/QUOTE] It's literally a screen on your face - they're not going to force shit on you. This is all optional. Oculus is a COMPANY. Is it wrong of them to have more than one project? [editline]7th May 2014[/editline] Rating OP dumb, not the article.
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744595] So now Oculus is going to be bloated with shovelware aimed at the average facebook user instead of actual video games.[/QUOTE] Umm... It's not like the video games already made will cease existing. What are you talking about?
[I]Opinions![/I]
do people legitimately think that Facebook buying oculus was a bad thing
they're being incredibly optimistic. even Runescape has [I]only[/I] 200 million registered users, good luck making an MMO with 1 billion active ones
Especially when you need to buy a hardware for it to play..
[QUOTE=elitehakor;44744615]do people legitimately think that Facebook buying oculus was a bad thing[/QUOTE] Didn't you see Reddit the day the acquisition was announced? I've never seen more people upset over nothing.
[QUOTE=rapperkid04;44744622]Didn't you see Reddit the day the acquisition was announced? I've never seen more people upset over nothing.[/QUOTE] Hell, the entire internet was collectively shitting themselves over nothing.
[QUOTE=rapperkid04;44744622]Didn't you see Reddit the day the acquisition was announced? I've never seen more people upset over nothing.[/QUOTE] same with fp
To be fair, an acquisition by a big company is hardly 'nothing'. There was just a lot of bias given how much certain circles of the internet dislike Facebook. When taking into account who else could have bought the Oculus, Facebook really isn't that bad at all.
It will still help more serious gaming companies get involved, by bringing the tech into the mainstream. Still a good thing IMO
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744606][I]Opinions![/I][/QUOTE] Not opinions; baseless rumor-mongering.
It's been said before, Zuckerburg was a hypernerd before he was a billionaire. I think hes genuinely interested in the Oculus.
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744595] So now Oculus is going to be bloated with shovelware aimed at the average facebook user instead of actual video games.[/QUOTE] Vote with your wallet? Isn't this what capitalism is good for? If you don't like shovelware, don't buy shovelware. They will see there's a market there and make what you want.
[QUOTE=PredGD;44744617]they're being incredibly optimistic. even Runescape has [I]only[/I] 200 million registered users, good luck making an MMO with 1 billion active ones[/QUOTE] that's immense. 20 years back you'd have only 20 million personal computers and almost none were connected to the internet...
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744606][I]Opinions![/I][/QUOTE] You realize that pointing out that what everybody says is their opinion doesn't shield you from criticism, right?
[QUOTE=Coyoteze;44744598]they're not going to force shit on you. [/QUOTE] The Oculus team may not, but Facebook does, and Facebook [i]will[/i] find a way to force a bunch of bloatware on Oculus users.
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744606][I]Opinions![/I][/QUOTE] Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh man here we go
Zuckerberg said that he's not planning to make any profit off a 2 billion dollar purchase and that's enough reason for me to stay alert. He didn't do this as a private person giving them the money with no strings attached. He bought the company as CEO of facebook.
So every 1 in 7 people on the planet will be active users in the game? Yeah, right. Subtract the billions of people in third-world countries and those that simply won't buy a Rift or play the game and the figure's even more than that. Having one billion simultaneous users is pretty much impossible.
[QUOTE=Sir Whoopsalot;44744634]Hell, the entire internet was collectively shitting themselves over nothing.[/QUOTE] For years we collectively hated Facebook for its social networking and gaming models. Then when they bought Oculus suddenly people left and right are defending them like everything previous did not matter and that collective split in half. If they are going to do good with the rift like they say then they will have to prove people wrong.
Rated OP dumb, not article.
[QUOTE=Midas22;44744606][I]Opinions![/I][/QUOTE] What do you mean "opinions", is your opinion that since occulus wants to make a social game for the rift you'll be banned from playing all the games you want to play on it until you've played the necessary quota of social stuff? I mean if you don't like the game don't play it, it's just a peripheral it can't tell you what to play
Rated OP dumb, AND article.
[QUOTE=Coyoteze;44744598]Oculus is a COMPANY. Is it wrong of them to have more than one project?[/QUOTE] When a hardware company hasn't even released a single product, yes, it is wrong for them to be talking about building the most ambitious networking project in human history. They should be focusing on their flagship product, not pipe dream ambitions.
[QUOTE=catbarf;44745459]When a hardware company hasn't even released a single product, yes, it is wrong for them to be talking about building the most ambitious networking project in human history. They should be focusing on their flagship product, not pipe dream ambitions.[/QUOTE] They have a massive amount of funds, and an entirely new office(s?), who says it's the same people working on the two? Working on VR hardware and programming a social MMO require entirely different qualifications, not to say you couldn't necessarily have both.
[QUOTE=Elspin;44745483]They have a massive amount of funds, and an entirely new office(s?), who says it's the same people working on the two? Working on VR hardware and programming a social MMO require entirely different qualifications, not to say you couldn't necessarily have both.[/QUOTE] Which requires substantial investment, not only in money but people just in terms of administration and management because they're under the same company umbrella. Long-term goals like corporate expansion and roadmapping are heavily dependent on what major products a company is developing since you can't plan where you'll be in ten years if you have no idea what new projects are going to be started. It's not as independent as just hiring new people to do new things, and there's a reason why most smaller businesses don't develop entirely new product lines, and most large businesses prefer to buy out smaller ones that do different tasks. They should be focusing on releasing their flagship product, the thing that defines their company, [i]then[/i] move on to implementing the finalized technology in software development.
[QUOTE=catbarf;44745563]Which requires substantial investment, not only in money but people just in terms of administration and management because they're under the same company umbrella. Long-term goals like corporate expansion and roadmapping are heavily dependent on what major products a company is developing since you can't plan where you'll be in ten years if you have no idea what new projects are going to be started. It's not as independent as just hiring new people to do new things, and there's a reason why most smaller businesses don't develop entirely new product lines, and most large businesses prefer to buy out smaller ones that do different tasks. They should be focusing on releasing their flagship product, the thing that defines their company, [i]then[/i] move on to implementing the finalized technology in software development.[/QUOTE] Normally I'd agree but they have the backing of a massive company, I think they can deal with the management of one software project being developed by an alternate team.
[QUOTE=TestECull;44745279]The Oculus team may not, but Facebook does, and Facebook [i]will[/i] find a way to force a bunch of bloatware on Oculus users.[/QUOTE] It's a [B][I]SCREEN[/I][/B]. On your [B][I]FACE[/I][/B]. What do you think they're going to do, etch an image of farmville into the lenses?
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