Being tethered to a high end gaming pc "dooms" it to be a niche product. How soon can Oculus either ally with a console or make a console?
Facebook is much more akin to Google than to Apple because Facebook & Google's primary business is the same - advertising.
And if you're an advertising business your primary objective is driving more eyeballs / more users.
Google's first VR solution demonstrates this - they GIVE it away via Cardboard.
Just look at how Facebook approaches the GearVR initiative - I can't imagine they're making much of a licensing premium but it's dramatically increasing their footprint to be the premier VR solution of Samsung phones (1)
Which is where I come back to why bother with the hardware side as a serious business at all?
Even if I argue that the Oculus Rift is just a red herring to push the medium forward on the hardware side I lose the thread because they seem to be playing such hard defense on the hardware side w/the "app" store . . .
Just release FB Social VR already and win the game, stop damaging your brand w/consumers and developers . . .
(1) http://fortune.com/2016/05/11/oculus-samsung-gear-1-million-...
I saw facebook's earnings last quarter and my jaw dropped. 40% increase in revenue since same quarter last year. Then I took a look at their quarterly report, and the entire thing -- and I mean, like 99% of it -- is about ads. MAU, DAU, publisher and inventory growth, top-level organizational goals about getting more marketers on the platform, etc. The only other two revenue sources they have are hardware sales and payments, and they didn't even break out how much either of those businesses made apart from the broader facebook advertising business. It became extremely clear reading the report that ads is where the focus, attention, and money are going in the company.
I guess Oculus is going to be a giant ad business. Either that, or fb is going to pull off a major win against the innovator's dilemma, where they get so focused on ads that that focus chokes other initiatives within the company.
I don't doubt Oculus (as well as Messenger) have a ton of ad inventory in front of them. But I think it's a mistake to think fb cares about the hardware per se; they don't, it's all just a doorway to their platform.
No. VR won't be that popular. I know that's hard for people on HN to hear, but it's true. Sure it'll make money selling to geeks and nerds, but that's all.
Then it is the issue of having something on your face and not being able to hop-in and hop-out of the experience in case of a second. It makes the experience deeper, but that means you need more time and people don't have time. Even if you play with someone on a console you can, in split second, see them smiling or see that you need to turn off cooker under rice. Never mind about actual appearance of having something on someones pretty face. VR devices are looking probably too Sci-Fi than somewhat elegant iPhone to appeal to public. Elegance appeal to rich people and what appeals to rich people appeals to everyone that would like to be rich. One thing that overcomes elegance is price and it does not apply to VR.
It is deeper experience so it may be closer to cinema than to TV. TV is certainly more popular. I hope that it will enable not only great gaming experiences, but also remarkable development (or professional) environments. Current gen VR is probably not yet there to be used in professional setting, but maybe subsidized by gaming - same as with GPUs - it will get there.
I think I'm going to stick to large curved screens for now, and hold out for holograms later.
Also if you take pr0n-use into consideration?
Also I know plenty of people who wear glasses to reap the value of better sight. Why isn't it conceptually possible for people to wear other stuff to reap other benefits?
as much as I am a tech geek, VR with huge headsets is really niche product. people look like idiots, it's restrictive, many people have health issues with it etc. I'll probably buy a headset after it gains real traction (ie most AAA games will work flawlessly in them), but not sooner.
We're talking putting something on one's _face_. Even if they made it the size and weight of normal glasses, it wouldn't get any where _near_ as popular as geeks and nerds think (hope?) it will. It just won't.
But, hey, let's put a pin in this conversation and revisit it in 5 years. Ok? If I'm wrong, I'll send you lunch.
Facebook wants VR to be more than video games. Bundling the Gear with Samsung phones has been a success so far.
That's one of the project's main goals. But my understanding is that Microsoft is developing its own Xbox VR headset.