Mark Zückerberg bekrefter oppkjøp av virtuell virkelighet-selskap.
Denne saken oppdateres!
En stor bombe har akkurat blitt sluppet i IT-verden. I en pressemelding har det blitt kjent at Facebook kjøper Oculus Rift, et selskap som spesialiserer seg på virtuell virkelighet i spill.
Oculus Rift står bak en mye omtalt brille som tilbyr virtuell virkelighet i videospill. Brillen opptar hele synsfeltet og er «altoppslukende».
Facebook-sjef Mark Zückerberg bekreftet først oppkjøpet i en post på Facebook. Nå har også det sosiale nettverket kommet med en offisiell pressemelding.
Avtalen innebærer blant annet at Facebook vil betale rundt 2,4 milliarder kroner i kontanter, mens rundt 9,6 milliarder kroner vil være i form av Facebook-aksjer.
«Jeg er glad for å annonsere at vi har blitt enige om å overta Oculus VR, pionéren innen virtuell virkelighetsteknologi. Vårt oppdrag er å gjøre verden mer åpen og tilkoblet», skriver Zückerberg på Facebook.
Av meldingen kommer det frem at Facebook har store planer for teknologien som Oculus Rift besitter. Og her er det ikke bare spill som er i tankene.
– Dette er bare begynnelsen. Vi skal gjøre Oculus til en plattform for mange andre opplevelser (enn spill journ.anm). Se for deg å studere i et klasserom fullt av studenter og lærere over hele verden, eller forhøre deg med en lege ansikt til ansikt – kun ved å ta på deg et par briller i hjemmet ditt.
Ifølge Zückerberg vil Oculus Rift fortsette å utvikle produkter uavhengig av Facebook.
Selv om avtalen skal være i boks, vil ikke selve oppkjøpet gjennomføres før andre kvartal i år.
Her er hele pressemeldingen:
I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.
Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we’re in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.
This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it’s different from anything they’ve ever experienced in their lives.
Oculus’s mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.
Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there’s a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We’re going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.
But this is just the start. After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home.
This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.
These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.
Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can’t wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.
