Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by martyb on Monday July 15 2019, @06:17PM   Printer-friendly
from the predicted-sales-of-6-or-7-mainframes-by-IBM dept.

Facebook will never break through with Oculus, says one of the VR company's co-founders

Five years after its $2 billion purchase of Oculus, Facebook is still pushing forward in its efforts to bring virtual reality to a mainstream audience. But one of the company's six co-founders now doubts Oculus will ever break through.

Jack McCauley told CNBC he doesn't think there's a real market for VR gaming. With Facebook positioning its Oculus devices primarily as gaming machines, McCauley doesn't believe there's much of a market for the device. "If we were gonna sell, we would've sold," McCauley said in a phone interview on Wednesday.

[...] The $199 Oculus Go has sold a little more than 2 million units since its release in May 2018, according to estimates provided by market research firm SuperData, a Nielsen company. The Oculus Quest, which was released this May, has sold nearly 1.1 million units while the Oculus Rift has sold 547,000 units since the start of 2018, according to SuperData.

[...] Since leaving in November 2015, McCauley has enjoyed a semi-retired life. He's an innovator in residence at Berkeley's Jacobs Institute of Design Innovation and he continues to build all sorts of devices, such as a gun capable of shooting down drones, at his own research and development facility.

The cheaper, standalone headsets are selling more units. Add foveated rendering and other enhancements at the lower price points (rather than $1,599 like the Vive Pro Eye), and the experience could become much better.

Related: Oculus Rift: Dead in the Water?
HTC: Death of VR Greatly Exaggerated
As Sales Slide, Virtual Reality Fans Look to a Bright, Untethered Future
Virtual Reality Feels Like a Dream Gathering Dust
VR Gets Reality Check with Significant Decline in Investment
Creepy Messages Will be Found in Facebook's Oculus Touch VR Controllers


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by stormreaver on Monday July 15 2019, @06:43PM (8 children)

    by stormreaver (5101) on Monday July 15 2019, @06:43PM (#867279)

    I have no desire to spend $1500 on a VR headset that requires, and ties me to, another $1500 computer. I do, however, have a great desire to have a VR headset that is:

    1) Completely self-contained.
    2) Between $200-$300.
    3) Is programmable using standard, cross-platform tools.

    So basically, the Occulus Go hits the sweet spot. As of right now, it's on Amazon for $160!

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Moderation   +2  
       Insightful=1, Interesting=1, Total=2
    Extra 'Interesting' Modifier   0  
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   4  
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by Freeman on Monday July 15 2019, @07:39PM (2 children)

    by Freeman (732) on Monday July 15 2019, @07:39PM (#867301) Journal

    Essentialy, if you like the Oculus Go at all, or could see that it could be great. If only, it had more power behind it to run Fallout 4 like games. You'd like the more expensive VR headsets as well.

    Personally, I was already into gaming and was already thinking about VR support with my newest build as VR was in the works. So, the $600 computer, with $400 graphics card, got a $450 Vive from E-bay. I just had to plan my purchases. 'cause I can't justify dropping $1,400 all at once. Over 2-3 years, you betcha.

    --
    Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 16 2019, @01:36AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 16 2019, @01:36AM (#867395)

      Oculus? Isn't that the company that sends data to Facebook?

    • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 16 2019, @04:52AM

      by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 16 2019, @04:52AM (#867427) Journal

      Essentialy, if you like the Oculus Go at all, or could see that it could be great.

      From "The Sacred Book of Tautologies":

      Remember, everything that you can see in VR is Virtual Reality

      (grin)

      --
      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Snow on Monday July 15 2019, @09:28PM

    by Snow (1601) on Monday July 15 2019, @09:28PM (#867327) Journal

    See, I'd prefer if it wasn't self contained. I'd prefer the heavy lifting be done by a computer so I can upgrade that independently. Plus GPU updates will also give me the benefit of better desktop performance. The headset should just be a monitor.

    Get rid of the wires though!

  • (Score: 2) by JoeMerchant on Monday July 15 2019, @09:37PM

    by JoeMerchant (3937) on Monday July 15 2019, @09:37PM (#867329)

    See: Google Cardboard.

    I got a "free" smartphone holder headset with a drone to facilitate FPV flying - never bothered to use it after the first time I tried the software. It worked well enough, just wasn't a compelling thing - I'd rather watch the real world than a delayed low res restricted field of view version.

    --
    🌻🌻 [google.com]
  • (Score: 5, Insightful) by edIII on Monday July 15 2019, @09:44PM (2 children)

    by edIII (791) on Monday July 15 2019, @09:44PM (#867332)

    Exactly. I want to create window managers in VR. I don't want to be tied to monitors anymore, or keyboards for that matter.

    They get a neural interface going, enough to operate a keyboard and mouse, and I can use VR with that to interact with my systems. That would be a heck of a lot more preferable.

    --
    Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 16 2019, @12:20AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 16 2019, @12:20AM (#867378)

      Arcan is already doing exactly this, but people would rather complain about X and Wayland. I agree with the guy in the article - VR /gaming/ is a dead end. The only tag that turns me off more than "VR only" is "visual novel" (the constant shitting on the reputation of all the epic roguelikes by allowing horrible ptw dumpster fires to call themselves "roguelite" is worse though). VR is still the only route for a next-gen advanced computer interface and hopefully in the future becoming badass portable units (even if it's just a thin client!). The problems of unsatisfying input devices and tethering for power are all that's holding it back at this point.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday July 16 2019, @04:59AM

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 16 2019, @04:59AM (#867428) Journal

        The problems of ... tethering for power are all that's holding it back at this point.

        Seems like you enjoy the thrill of having slapped on your face a thingy powered by something with an energy density equivalent to a fragmentation grenade, right? Right?!?

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford