FTC approves Facebook’s acquisition of Oculus VR

By Will Fulton April 24, 2014

Oculus Rift Crystal Cove hands on 2 — Image used with permission by copyright holder

Facebook has been given the go-ahead from the Federal Trade Commission to purchase virtual reality start-up Oculus VR Inc. (via Reuters). CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Facebook’s plan to buy Oculus on March 25 for $2 billion as part of an effort to plant the company’s flag early on “the platforms of tomorrow.”

The Oculus purchase is Facebook’s first foray into hardware, and it has generated a considerable amount of backlash from the company’s Kickstarter backer community, including a high-profile withdrawal of support from Minecraft creator Marcus “Notch” Persson. The FTC and Department of Justice’s approval may be the final nail in the coffin for held-out hopes that the deal may collapse.

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This comes close on the tail of Facebook’s announced purchase of messaging service WhatsApp in February for $1 billion, much like their much-discussed purchase of Instagram in 2012 for another $1 billion. In addition to buying up technologies further and further afield from the social network’s original purpose, Facebook has also announced sinister-sounding ambitions to bring the Internet to everyone using “drones, satellites, and lasers.”

Clearly, Zuckerberg’s company has joined Google in the race to first become our dystopian technocrat overlord.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Will Fulton is a New York-based writer and theater-maker. In 2011 he co-founded mythic theater company AntiMatter Collective…

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FTC files lawsuit to block Microsoft’s Activision Blizzard acquisition

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The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) will sue Microsoft to block its acquisition of Call of Duty and World of Warcraft publisher Activision Blizzard.
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"Microsoft has already shown that it can and will withhold content from its gaming rivals," she said. "Today, we seek to stop Microsoft from gaining control over a leading independent game studio and using it to harm competition in multiple dynamic and fast-growing gaming markets."
That press release also highlights the FTC's belief that Microsoft's acquisition of ZeniMax Media is problematic due to a track record of "using valuable gaming content to suppress competition from rival consoles." In addition, after the Activision Blizzard acquisition, Microsoft could potentially "harm competition by manipulating Activision’s pricing, degrading Activision’s game quality or player experience on rival consoles and gaming services, changing the terms and timing of access to Activision’s content, or withholding content from competitors entirely."
This $69 billion acquisition has dominated gaming industry headlines all year as Microsoft has been doing all it can to make the deal seem favorable to the industry. As recently as December 6, Head of Xbox Phil Spencer emphasized the potential positives of this acquisition, confirming plans to continue to bring Call of Duty to Nintendo platforms and Steam for 10 years if the Activision Blizzard merger is complete.
By filing this complaint, the FTC begins proceedings that will result in a hearing and trial before an administrative law judge to determine whether or not Microsoft will acquire Activision Blizzard.

Gaming

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Last week’s Meta Connect started off promising on the gaming front. Viewers got release dates for Iron Man VR, an upcoming Quest game that was previously a PS VR exclusive, as well as Among Us VR. Meta, which owns Facebook, also announced that it was acquiring three major VR game studios -- Armature Studio, Camouflaj Team, and Twisted Pixel -- although we don’t know what they’re working on just yet.

Unfortunately, that’s where the Meta Connect's gaming section mostly ended. Besides tiny glimpses and a look into fitness, video games were not the show's focus. Instead, CEO Mark Zuckerberg wanted to focus on what seemed to be his company’s real vision of VR's future, which involves a lot of legs and a lot of work with the Quest Pro, a mixed reality headset that'll cost a whopping $1,500.

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Chainsaw man attacking Leon in Resident Evil 4 VR.

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The 128GB Meta Quest model is currently priced at $300 with its 256GB model sibling going for $400 on most marketplaces. These prices have been standard since their initial release. Meta's new jump in price sees both these products having $100 extra added on two years after release.