Why Facebook Is Spending Big Money for Oculus
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Stephen Lam/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — Is the Oculus Rift the next big thing in virtual reality? Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is betting on it.
Weeks after agreeing to spend $19 billion to buy WhatsApp, Zuckerberg is continuing his spending ways. Facebook has agreed to buy Oculus for $2 billion.
Zuckerberg says Oculus could become a very big computing and social platform. The firm makes a virtual reality headset that’s getting a lot of buzz from video game developers. Popular Mechanics calls it “the most hotly anticipated gaming peripheral in years.”
Tens of thousands of Rift headsets are in circulation among developers who are working on applications for the hardware. They include gaming but also many other potential apps.
“Rift programmers are working on applications for surgeons, architects and educators,” reports Popular Mechanics. “A 360-degree virtual-reality movie called Zero Point is now in the editing process. And the military is far ahead in its VR experiments.”
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