John Carmack Talks Facebook’s Oculus VR Acquisition: They Get The Big Picture

John Carmack, co-founder of id Software and creator of the Doom and Quake, wants everyone to know that Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR will only help strengthen the company’s future. Carmack left id Software in 2013 to take on the CTO role at Oculus VR.

Carmack opened up about the acquisition in a posted comment on Anamanaguchi lead songwriter Peter Berkman’s Tumblr page.

In a post titled “Wrong and Right Reasons To Be Upset About Oculus” the famed game designer writes the following comment:

“I share some of your misgivings about companies “existing and operating only to be acquired”. I am a true believer in market economies, and the magic of trade being a positive sum game is most obvious with repeated transactions at a consumer level. Company acquisitions, while still (usually) being a trade between willing parties that in theory leaves both better off, have much more of an element of speculation rather than objective assessment of value, and it definitely feels different.

There is a case to be made for being like Valve, and trying to build a new VR ecosystem like Steam from the ground up. This is probably what most of the passionate fans wanted to see. The difference is that, for years, the industry thought Valve was nuts, and they had the field to themselves. Valve deserves all their success for having the vision and perseverance to see it through to the current state.

VR won’t be like that. The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact. The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who.

Honestly, I wasn’t expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies. However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don’t make a commitment like they just did on a whim.

I wasn’t personally involved in any of the negotiations — I spent an afternoon talking technology with Mark Zuckerberg, and the next week I find out that he bought Oculus.”

Carmack announced his comment on his Twitter page:

I commented here: http://t.co/8kO5W1iTr4

— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) March 30, 2014

Love or hate Facebook, it is hard to argue with the guy who is responsible in large part for what video games look like and act like in present times.

via Business 2 Community http://ift.tt/1kcLrS5