Mark Zuckerberg is following up his
Whatsapp buy with another big acquisition: virtual reality company
Oculus VR for $2 billion in stock and cash (curiously, news of the talks may have leaked on Reddit
a month ago). In a
post on Facebook,
Zuckerberg talks at length about how Facebook plans to make Oculus a
platform for "completely new kinds of experiences," and gaming is only
the first one. Examples he suggests include sitting courtside at a big
game, studying in a classroom with other students virtually or getting a
face to face doctor consultation from anywhere. The idea that virtual
reality may be the next big thing gained more credibility last week when
Sony showed off a prototype VR headset for developers,
Project Morpheus. That also means Oculus is suddenly staring down a massive competitor -- with
others likely on the way -- and now it has the resources of the social network to rely on.
