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Oculus VR, LLC
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryVirtual reality
FoundedJune 2012; 12 years ago (2012-06)
Founder
Headquarters
Menlo Park, California
,
United States
Key people
Products
Number of employees
17,000 (2022) Edit this on Wikidata
ParentFacebook
Websiteoculus.com

Oculus VR, LLC, or simply known as Oculus, is an American virtual reality technology company founded by Palmer Luckey and Brendan Iribe.

Oculus was founded in 2012 and vitalized through their first product: the Oculus Rift, a virtual reality head-mounted display, via a Kickstarter campaign. The product proved highly successful, and released two pre-production models to the market: the "Development Kit 1" and the "Development Kit 2". The final product, which is due on 28 March 2016, will include integrated headphones, a refreshed design, an available tracked controller system, and an IR LED sensor.

On March 2014, Facebook's CEO Mark Zuckerberg agreed to acquire Oculus for $2 billion, in cash and Facebook stock, [1][2][3] to the criticsm of many news reports and game figures

In 2015, Oculus acquired Surreal Vision, a British start-up focusing on 3D reconstruction and mixed reality, to the awe of many news sources, stating that it could be possible for Oculus to develop products with the concept of telepresence.

The company also partnered with Samsung to develop the Samsung Gear VR for the Samsung Galaxy S7 and older models.

History

Founding

As a head-mounted display (HMD) designer at the University of Southern California Institute for Creative Technologies, Palmer Luckey earned a reputation for having the largest personal collection of HMDs in the world, and was a longtime moderator in Meant to be Seen (MTBS)'s discussion forums.[4]

Through MTBS' forums,[5] Palmer developed the idea of creating a new head-mounted display that was both more effective than what is currently on the market, and inexpensive for gamers. To develop the new product, Luckey founded Oculus VR with Scaleform co-founders Brendan Iribe and Michael Antonov,[6] engineer Jack McCauley,[7] Nate Mitchell and Andrew Scott Reisse.[8]

Coincidentally, John Carmack of id Software had been doing his own research on HMDs and happened upon Palmer's developments as a fellow MTBS member.[9] After sampling an early unit, Carmack favored Luckey's prototype and just before the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), Id announced that their future updated version of Doom 3, Doom 3 BFG Edition, would be compatible with head-mounted display units.[10] During the convention, Carmack introduced a duct taped head-mounted display based on Palmer's Oculus Rift prototype, which ran Carmack's own software. The unit featured a high speed IMU and a 5.6-inch (14 cm) LCD, visible via dual lenses that were positioned over the eyes to provide a 90 degrees horizontal and 110 degrees vertical stereoscopic 3D perspective.[11][12] Carmack later left Id as he was hired as Oculus VR's Chief technology officer.[13]

Name

In an early version of the company's website, Palmer Luckey explained why he chose the name Oculus, writing:

Why the name "Oculus"? Because it is the Latin word for "eye", and someone used the word in a meeting several months ago. I thought it was a nifty word, and was better than the alternative, "StepN2theGAME".'

Funding for Oculus Rift and company

Following the demonstration of the Oculus Rift prototype at E3 in June 2012, on August 1, 2012, the company announced a Kickstarter campaign to further develop the product. Oculus announced that the "dev kit" version of the Oculus Rift would be given as a reward to backers who pledged $300 or more on Kickstarter, with an expected shipping date set of December 2012 (though they did not actually ship until March 2013).[14] There was also a limited run of 100 unassembled Rift prototype kits for pledges over $275 that would ship a month earlier. Both versions were intended to include Doom 3 BFG Edition, but Rift support in the game was not ready, so to make up for it they included a choice of discount vouchers for either Steam or the Oculus store.[15] Within four hours of the announcement, Oculus secured its intended amount of US$250,000,[16][17] and in less than 36 hours, the campaign had surpassed $1 million in funding,[18] eventually ending with $2,437,429.[19]

On December 12, 2013, Marc Andreessen joined the company's board when his firm, Andreessen Horowitz, led the $75 million Series B venture funding.[20]

In total, Oculus VR has raised $91 million with $2.4 million raised via crowdfunding.[15]

Facebook acquisition and chief scientist

Though Oculus VR had only released a development prototype of its headset, on March 25, 2014, Mark Zuckerberg announced via his Facebook profile that Facebook would be acquiring Oculus VR for US$2 billion, pending regulatory approval. The deal includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million common shares of Facebook, valued at $1.6 billion, as well as additional $300 million assuming Facebook reaches certain milestones.[1][2][3]

Many Kickstarter backers and game industry figures, such as Minecraft developer Markus Persson, criticized the sale of Oculus VR to Facebook.[21][22]

On March 28, 2014, it was announced that Michael Abrash had joined the company as Chief Scientist.[23]

As of January 2015, the Oculus VR Headquarters has been moved from Irvine, California to Menlo Park, California, where Facebook's Headquarters is also located. Oculus has stated that this move is for their employees to be closer to Silicon Valley.[24]

Partnership with Samsung

In 2014, Samsung partnered with Oculus to develop the Gear VR, after the success of the, in-development, Rift.[25]

During the course of 2014 to 2015, two Innovator Editions, in-development versions of the Gear VR mainly sold to developers for sole research and understanding, were developed, manufactured, and sold.[26] The devices that the Innovator Editions used were the Note 4, Galaxy S6, and Galaxy S6 Edge.

On 20 November 2015, the consumer edition of the Gear VR was released to the public, and sold out during the first shipments. The device supported the Samsung Galaxy Note 5, Samsung Galaxy S6, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge, Samsung Galaxy S6 Edge+, and later, the Samsung Galaxy S7, and Samsung Galaxy S7 Edge.[27]

Acquisition of Surreal Vision

On May 2015, Oculus acquired British company Surreal Vision, a company based on 3D scene-mapping reconstruction and augumented reality.

News reported that Oculus and Surreal Vision could create "mixed reality" technology in Oculus's products, similar to the upcoming HMD, Microsoft HoloLens.[28] They also reported that Oculus, with Surreal's help, will make telepresence possible.[29]

Oculus Rift

Main article: Oculus Rift
Oculus Rift worn at a research showcase.

The Oculus Rift is a virtual reality head-mounted display. Software, most notably video games, must be custom programmed to use the Rift. Developer kit preorders were made available for $300 through Oculus VR's website starting on September 26, 2012. These kits sold at a rate of 4–5 per minute for the first day, before slowing down throughout the week.[30] In March 2014 at GDC, Oculus announced the upcoming Devkit 2 (DK2) which they expected to begin shipping in July 2014.[31]

In January 2016 at CES 2016, Oculus announced it will start shipping the Oculus Rift headset to customers in 20 countries on March 28, and it will cost $599.[32] In January 2016, as a gesture of appreciation, Oculus announced it will give the 6,855 people who participated in the 2012 Kickstarter project a special-edition Oculus Rift one day before the new product goes on sale to the public on March 28, 2016.[33]

Conflicts with ZeniMax Media

In May 2014, ZeniMax Media, parent company of Carmack's former employer id Software, sent a letter to Facebook and Oculus asserting that any contributions that he made to the Oculus Rift project are the intellectual property of ZeniMax, stating that "ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology and other valuable assistance to Palmer Luckey and other Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make the Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings."

On May 21, 2014, ZeniMax Media filed a lawsuit against Oculus VR.[34][35] On June 25, 2014, Oculus VR filed an official response to the lawsuit. Oculus claimed ZeniMax was falsely claiming ownership to take advantage of the acquisition by Facebook. Oculus also claimed that the Oculus Rift did not share a single line of code or any technology with ZeniMax's code and technology.[36]

References

  1. ^ a b "Facebook to Acquire Oculus". Facebook Newsroom. Facebook. March 25, 2014. Retrieved March 26, 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |deadurl= (help)
  2. ^ a b Plunkett, Luke (March 25, 2014). "Facebook Buys Oculus Rift For $2 Billion". Kotaku. Retrieved March 25, 2014.
  3. ^ a b Welch, Chris (March 25, 2014). "Facebook buying Oculus VR for $2 billion". The Verge. Retrieved March 26, 2014. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |deadurl= (help)
  4. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/video-game-news/10723562/Oculus-VR-the-2bn-virtual-reality-company-that-is-revolutionising-gaming.html
  5. ^ "Meant to be Seen – View topic – Oculus "Rift" : An open-source HMD for Kickstarter". Mtbs3d.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  6. ^ Hollister, Sean (16 August 2012). "Under new management, Oculus intends to commercialize the virtual reality headset". theverge. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  7. ^ Luckey, Palmer (16 August 2012). "Expanding the Team, Meet us at Gamescom, Unite, PAX". oculus.com. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  8. ^ "Santa Ana police chase: Pedestrian identified". Retrieved March 26, 2014.
  9. ^ Neil Schneider. "The #1 Stereoscopic 3D Gaming (VR Gaming, 3D Gaming) and VR Resource - Meant to be Seen - John Carmack Talks VR at QuakeCon 2012". mtbs3d.com.
  10. ^ "Carmack Makes Virtual Reality Actually Cool".
  11. ^ Welsh, Oli (7 June 2012). "John Carmack and the Virtual Reality Dream". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  12. ^ Rosenberg, Adam (14 June 2012). "Hands-On With Oculus Rift, John Carmack's Virtual Reality Goggles". G4TV. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  13. ^ Gilbert, Ben (7 August 2013). "Oculus Rift hires Doom co-creator John Carmack as Chief Technology Officer". engadget. Retrieved 7 August 2013.
  14. ^ "Update on Developer Kit Technology, Shipping Details". Oculus VR. 2012-11-28. Retrieved 2014-03-20.
  15. ^ a b "Oculus Rift: Step Into the Game". Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  16. ^ "Oculus Rift virtual reality headset gets Kickstarter cash". BBC. 1 August 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  17. ^ Matulef, Jeffrey (1 August 2012). "John Carmack's snazzy VR headset takes to Kickstarter with the Oculus Rift". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 August 2012.
  18. ^ "Watch the QuakeCon VR Keynote Tonight Live at 7PM EST. Oculus Rift Kickstarter Passes $1 Million Under 36 Hours « Road to Virtual RealityRoad to Virtual Reality". Roadtovr.com. 2012-08-06. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  19. ^ "Oculus Rift Virtual Reality Headset Developer Kits Now Available To Pre-Order". Geeky Gadgets. 2012-09-27. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  20. ^ Takahashi, Dean (12 December 2013). "Oculus VR raises $75M round led by web browser inventor Marc Andreessen's VC firm to launch virtual-reality goggles". venturebeat. Retrieved 12 December 2013.
  21. ^ Victor Luckerson (2014-03-26). "When Crowdfunding Goes Corporate: Kickstarter Backers Vent Over Facebook's Oculus Buy". Time. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  22. ^ Philippa Warr (2014-03-26). "Minecraft for Oculus Rift axed, Facebook too 'creepy'". Wired. Retrieved 2014-03-26.
  23. ^ "Introducing Michael Abrash, Oculus Chief Scientist". Retrieved 28 March 2014.
  24. ^ Leung, Lily. "Oculus moves out: Irvine VR goggles maker moves HQ to Menlo Park, closer to parent Facebook". Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  25. ^ "IFA 2014: Samsung Galaxy Note 4, Note Edge, Gear VR and Gear S hands-on". GSMArena.com. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  26. ^ "Introducing the Samsung Gear VR Innovator Edition". www.oculus.com. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  27. ^ "Samsung Gear VR now available for pre-orders at $99". www.oculus.com. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  28. ^ Gaudiosi, John (1 June 2015). "What the Surreal Vision acquisition means for Oculus". Fortune. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  29. ^ Etherington, Darrell (26 May 2015). "Oculus Acquires Surreal Vision To Bring The Real World to VR". TechCrunch. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
  30. ^ "Oculus Rift pre-order open now". Mtbs3d.com. Retrieved 2013-09-09.
  31. ^ "Announcing the Oculus Rift Development Kit 2 (DK2)". Oculus VR. 2014-03-19. Retrieved 2014-05-10.
  32. ^ Day, Matt. "CES 2016: Rewind from Day 2 of the Consumer Electronics Show". seattletimes.com. Seattle Times. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  33. ^ Stark, Chelsea. "Oculus will reward its original Kickstarter backers with the new Rift". mashable.com. mashable.com. Retrieved 7 January 2016.
  34. ^ "Oculus and Facebook face legal challenge from John Carmack's former employer". The Verge. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  35. ^ "One document could decide whether Oculus owes ZeniMax millions". The Verge. Retrieved 2 May 2014.
  36. ^ Sarkar, Samit. "Oculus: ZeniMax suit is a 'transparent attempt to take advantage' of Facebook acquisition".
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