Hurt by Facebook? Oculus Rift dev kit sales beg to differ

The sales of Oculus Rift development kits have soared since the firm's controversial acquisition by Facebook last month.

Developers have snapped up 25,000 'DK2' units since the second iteration went up for pre-order on March 19, less than a week before the Facebook buyout was announced.

Sales of the DK2 unit have outpaced the original (which sold 60,000), suggesting that games developers are enthused rather than perturbed by the presence of the new owners.

That may be down to the impression that Facebook's vast resources make Oculus and the Rift's chances of making it big have greatly improved.

Backlash

The reaction of some potential developers who perhaps see Rift has a more worthwhile platform to build for since Facebook's intervention is a far cry from the backlash felt in other quarters.

Many of the Kickstarter backers who forked over $2.4 million (about £1.4m, AU$2.5m) to help fund the company's goals demanded their money back following the takeover.

Not all developers are ecstatic over Facebook's presence though. Minecraft creator Markus Persson has given up on plans to bring a VR version of the game to the Rift, claiming Facebook "creeps me out."

10 Oculus Rift games that will blow your mind

Comments

Microsoft profits fall despite consumer, business line sales increases

Microsoft's Q3 2014 revenue remained flat at $20.4 billion (about £12.1b, AU$22b), compared with $20.49 billion (about £12.4b, AU$22.5b), in revenue during the same quarter last year. Operating income during the quarter decreased 9% to $6.9 billion (about £4.1b, AU$7.45b), during Q3, despite a decrease in operating expenses of $500 million (about £297m, AU$540m). Microsoft's net income during Q3 2014 decreased 8% from $6.1 billion (about £3.6b, AU$6.6b) to $5.6 billion (about £3.3b, AU$6.05b), compared with last year. The declines were partly the result of a $1.66 billion lift from deferred revenue in the comparable quarter last year, according to The New York Times . The deferred revenue was related to promotional offers Microsoft extended to customers buying new versions of Windows, Office and other products. Without that money, Microsoft's revenue grew 8% and net income grew 5%. "This quarter's results demonstrate the strength of our business, as well as the op...

Blip: These people playing giant Tetris on a skyscraper are really bad at Tetris

We hope that any Tetris Syndrome sufferers kept well away from Philadelphia on the weekend, else they'd have come face to face with a Godzilla-size version of the block-dropping puzzler. The super-sized game was played out on a 29-floor skyscraper in Philadelphia, displayed using hundreds of LED lights as players controlled the fate of each tetrimino with a joystick. The organisers hoped it would make people ponder on the potential of technology. For us, it just confirmed that a lot of people suck at Tetris. More blips! Blip, blip , blip The worst video game of all time is about to rise again Guess what happens when you hit an HTC One M8 with a hammer Miley Cyrus, rest assured: Apple's going to make its Emoji more ethnically diverse YouTube : www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCwhwZRMm5Q

Updated: PS4 vs Xbox One: which is better?

Introduction and design Update: We retooled our PS4 vs Xbox One comparison with a focus on specs, graphics performance, new games and firmware updates. We're almost six months into the next-generation of video games and PS4 and Xbox One sales numbers have surpassed a combined 10 million without a clear winner. Both Sony and Microsoft claim to have the advantage in powering gamers through the next decade. To see if that's true, our Xbox One vs PS4 comparison requires an update. GDC 2014 taught us that Sony is preparing for a virtual reality future with its Project Morpheus headset. It's shaping up to be a real challenger to Oculus Rift with a 2015 release date. Xbox One gamers finally received Titanfall , a next-gen exclusive courtesy of ex-Call of Duty developers. It came out in late March and Xbox Live subscribers haven't stopped playing since. We're not at a point where Xbox One and PS4 price drops mean that the average gamer can afford both, so it's imp...

Techno Guiders

Search This Blog