Episode 35: Oculus

Social Potential

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal discuss Mark Zuckerberg's vision of VR as the ultimate social platform. David believes Zuckerberg is both right and wrong, citing examples like Snapchat and Rec Room as successful social VR experiences. However, he criticizes Facebook and Oculus for poor execution in this area 1.

To really make this mainstream, you need to get out of the PC entirely. You need to make this something that people are going to be open with in the real world, interacting with other people.

--- David Rosenthal

David emphasizes the importance of natural hand movements and real-world interactions for VR to become mainstream 1.

   

Future of Oculus

Ben and David explore the future of Oculus and its strategic direction under Facebook. They compare Facebook's approach to other tech giants like Microsoft and Google, who have successfully built software layers while letting others handle hardware 2. Ben suggests that Facebook must ensure Oculus is a first-class product to support its broader business goals.

Facebook's just going to have to do the same thing with Oculus and hopefully there's less tumults on the way to get there.

--- Ben Gilbert

David speculates on what might have happened if Oculus had not been acquired by Facebook, suggesting that the company might have struggled without Facebook's resources 2.

   

Strategic Scenarios

The discussion shifts to hypothetical scenarios and strategic considerations surrounding Facebook's acquisition of Oculus. Ben views the acquisition as a defensive move to secure Facebook's position in the future technology landscape 3. He argues that Facebook needed to own the customer relationship at the point of access in the next wave of computing.

Facebook is in a little bit of a tenuous position in not directly owning their customers.

--- Ben Gilbert

David agrees, noting that integrating Oculus more deeply into Facebook could be beneficial, but warns against prioritizing Facebook features exclusively for Oculus 3.

   

Acquisition Insights

Ben and David delve into the insights gained from Facebook's acquisition of Oculus. They discuss the significant resources and partnerships required to advance VR technology, which would have been challenging for Oculus to achieve independently 4. Palmer Luckey, Oculus's founder, believes the acquisition accelerated their progress by at least five years.

We are five years ahead of where we would have been without the acquisition.

--- Palmer Luckey

David highlights the evolution of Oculus hardware, from early prototypes to consumer-ready products, made possible by Facebook's investment 4.