Regardless of what people think about Facebook, they have deep pockets, and they have the money to really help develop the Oculus into a serious product. Sony and Google are both working on augmented reality and VR technology, and let's be honest... Some little upstart is going to be nimble, and Oculus had some great people working on it already, but they were no competition for the R&D budget of a Google or Sony.
So, the Facebook deal makes a lot of sense, if you're in the Oculus bandcamp. The interesting question here is... Since Oculus started as a crowd funded project, and I can see that batch of early supporters feeling a little jaded that they helped launch a company that basically "sold-out" to big corporate.
The deal wasn't even that huge. They were bought for $2 billion on the books, but that was $500 mil in cash and the rest in stock. So, a lot of that is just funny money and hope that Facebook keeps beating expectations every quarter (and they've been doing fantastic, as of late).
There are also some interesting things Facebook could do with the Oculus Rift. Cyber sex jokes aside, there is an amazing possibility here for VR meetings and events, and other social applications. Having that will really put Facebook on the map for meetings, and put a dent in WebEx, GotoMeeting, and even Google Plus. I'd definitely use an Oculus meet up over a Google Plus Hangout any day.
So, call me cautiously optimistic on this one. Facebook spent 19 billion last month on Whatsup and everyone was scratching their heads. 2 billion on Oculus seems like a steal, in retrospect, and the possibilities of really getting a killer VR headset out of this multiplied about tenfold with Zuckerberg signing the checks.
