Facebook Just Bought Its Fifth VR Studio, ‘POPULATION: ONE’ Developer BigBox VR
Facebook today announced its fifth VR studio acquisition. This time it’s BigBox VR, the studio behind the popular VR battle royale POPULATION: ONE which launched just last year on PC VR and Quest, and has consistently ranked among Quest's most popular...
Facebook’s Previous Head of Oculus & Reality Labs Partnerships Leaves Company
Hugo Barra, one-time head of Oculus and VP of Facebook Reality Labs partnerships, has announced that he's left Facebook.
Barra announced the news in a Facebook post, saying that May 17th was his last day at the company. Barra says...
Facebook Acquires ‘Onward’ Developer Downpour Interactive in Fourth VR Studio Acquisition
Facebook today announced its fourth VR studio acquisition. This time it's Downpour Interactive, the studio behind the popular VR shooter Onward which has been continuously developed since its Early Access launch on PC back in 2016. More recently the game...
Facebook is Offering a Free Quest 2 to Tens of Thousands of Employees
Reportedly according to an internal Q&A, all Facebook employees are eligible for a refund from the company if they purchase a Quest 2 headset. The effort comes as the Facebook continues to justify deep investments in AR and VR...
Have Facebook’s Big Bets on Oculus Exclusive Games Been Successful? A Data-driven Look
Facebook has purportedly spent at least $500 million to bring a wide range of content to its VR headsets. A portion of that investment was bet on big budget exclusive games, like Asgard's Wrath and Medal of Honor: Above...
Facebook Already Working on Quest 3 & 4, Zuckerberg Talks Key Features for Future Headsets
In an interview with The Information, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg continued to project his bullish outlook on XR as the future of computing, saying that the company is already working on Oculus Quest 3 and 4. He also spoke about...
Report: Nearly 10,000 People at Facebook Are Working on AR & VR
By now, it's pretty clear Facebook is serious about leading virtual and augmented reality. Further underling Facebook's bet that immersive technologies are the future of computing, a report from The Information claims that the company is currently employing nearly...
Zuckerberg: Quest 2 ‘on track to be first mainstream VR headset’, Next Headset Confirmed
During Facebook's Q4 2020 earnings call today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Quest 2 is "on track to be the first mainstream virtual reality headset," noting that the device drove a 156% increase in the company's non-advertising revenue.
In past...
Parents Who Gift Quest 2 to Kids Under 13 Years Old are in for an Unfortunate...
Christmas day has come and the evidence suggests that Quest 2 was a hot gift item this year. While it may have inspired screams of joy, it turns out that kids under 13 years old aren't actually allowed to...
Germany Opens Legal Action Against Facebook Account Requirement for Oculus Headsets
Today, Germany's Federal Cartel Office (Bundeskartellamt) announced it was initiating formal abuse proceedings against Facebook for its controversial policy of requiring new Oculus device owners to use a Facebook account.
Germany's Federal Cartel Office, the competent authority when it comes...
Led by Former Oculus Exec, Facebook’s New Cloud Gaming Service Paves the Way to VR Streaming
This week Facebook announced the launch of cloud-streamed games from Facebook Gaming. These are games which are rendered in the cloud and then streamed to your computer. Cloud-based gaming has been seen by the industry at large as a...
Mark Zuckerberg: ‘Oculus Quest 2 pre-orders were five times higher than original Quest’
Oculus Quest 2 has celebrated a pretty successful launch, with some developers saying they've seen a dramatic jump in both sales and engagement across their games since the standalone headset's October 13th release. Now Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has...
Facebook’s Expanded VR Policies Disallow “invading personal space” and “sexual gestures”
As Facebook moved to require Facebook accounts to be used with Oculus headsets, the company also updated and expanded its VR policies which now dictate rules around "personal space" and "sexual gestures".
Facebook's expanded VR policies, updated this week just...
Report: Facebook Acquires Varifocal Startup Lemnis Technologies
It's come to light that Lemnis Technologies, a startup creating varifocal optics for use in VR headsets, has reportedly been absorbed by Facebook in an 'acqui-hiring' move.
Lemnis co-founder and CEO Pierre-Yves Laffont released a blog post in mid-August stating...
Project Aria is Facebook’s Prototype AR Glasses Which Start Real-world Testing This Month
Facebook is continuing its push toward delivering AR glasses and it's showing some of its development out in the open; Project Aria is a sensor-rich pair of glasses which the company will use to train its AR perception systems...
