I'd like to know more specifics about this. I know that Notch canceled plans for Minecraft on the Rift (though the Minecrift mod of course still exists), but besides him what projects have been canceled as a result of the Facebook news? I've been following news on Reddit's /r/oculus pretty closely, and while I saw some posts by users mentioning that they were no longer developing, I didn't see info in their post history indicating just what it was that they were working on that they were stopping. I'm not saying it didn't happen, but I would have thought that if "numerous" devs were ending their Rift development that there would have been more noise about the projects specifically.
EDIT: To offer a counterpoint, I had seen this article that suggests that the ecosystem may not have been so broken by the news: http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/26/oculus-rift-developer...
“We are as dedicated as ever. We are certain that Palmer and the Oculus team is sincere; dedicated to doing what's best for VR in the long-term. We have some concerns, yes, but the news just broke yesterday. We trust that Oculus is motivated by doing what's best for VR community and VR developers,” Hrafn Thorri Thorisson, co-founder of Aldin Dynamics told IGN.
NexyMedia founder Alan Robinson is deep in development on Oculus-powered survival game Atajrubah. Robinson told IGN that, if anything, the buyout news has made him even more energized. “I am [now] more determined to stick with my development plans for the Rift… For myself and the other team members survival games are just as much about the interactions between players and the experiences they have in the game world.The news that they want to take the Rift beyond just gaming in the future and focus on changing how people interact with each other, the kinds of experiences they have and even how they're educated can only be good news.”
Robinson isn’t the only developer that remains highly enthusiastic. Titans of Space developer ‘Drash’ is equally bullish. “Despite the shocking news of Oculus being acquired by Facebook, I currently feel more motivated than ever to develop VR software. Having just gotten back from GDC and trying the new "DK2" Oculus Rift development kit (not once, but six times), there's nothing in the world that can stop me from being excited for the Oculus Rift and VR technology as a whole,” he told IGN.
Other developers have a more pragmatic opinion on how this will impact their ability to work on Rift, but remain optimistic.
“A lot of people in the community have reacted by assuming that all VR games magically turned into FarmVille and Candy Crush overnight, but my Rift dev kit works the same today is it did a week ago. So no, this hasn't affected my day-to-day Rift development. I look at the acquisition as positive reinforcement that VR tech is on the cusp of something amazing,” hobbyist Rift developer Holden Link explained to IGN.
We spoke to more than 10 independent Oculus Rift game developers, and only one indicated an intention to put Rift development on hold as a result of the Facebook news.
“We already have a working demo for the Oculus Rift, but this is such a big surprise to us and we're not quite sure what it means yet, so development is currently on hold. We need to know what kind of plans and ideas Facebook has for Oculus before making a final decision,” Mediocre co-founder Henrik Johansson, makers of Smash Hit, told IGN.