So, what does Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg have up his sleeves for Oculus Rift, the virtual reality platform the social media titan acquired with a massive outlay of cash earlier this year?
A few hints emerged during Facebook's quarterly results call, picked up by Gamasutra. In the call to investors and analysts, Zuckerberg discussed the company's long-term plan for VR.
"It needs to reach a very large scale, 50 to 100 million units, before it will really be a very meaningful thing as a computing platform," Zuckerberg said. "I do think it's going to take a bunch of years to get there. Maybe, I don't know, it's hard to predict exactly, but I don't think it's going to get to 50 or 100 million units in the next few years, right? That'll take a few cycles of the device to get there."
In March, Facebook shelled out $2 billion for Oculus. At the time, Zuckerberg stated that he was preparing for the platforms of tomorrow, and that his interest in the potential of VR extended far beyond video games.
"When you get to that scale, that's when it starts to be interesting as a business, in terms of developing out of the ecosystem," he said. "So when I'm talking about it as a 10-year thing, I'm talking about building the first set of devices, and then building the audience and the ecosystem around that, until it eventually becomes a business."
So...no Star Trek-styled holodecks anytime soon then, Mark? I feel cheated. I want instant gratification! I guess $2 billion dollars doesn't let you live out your long-standing nerd fantasies without a 10-year business plan attached. So it goes.
