Becoming Reality
For a 21 year old “self-taught” engineer and designer, selling a Virtual Reality company to Facebook this year for $2 billion isn’t too bad. Most 21 year olds can barely dress themselves on a good day. Palmer Luckey – the founder of the company, Oculus VR, had more than an outfit picked out, he had a dream. He wanted a virtual reality device that he could actually enjoy. After purchasing over 40 different models, he decided that a good one simply did not exist.
So he decided to make one himself.
A discussion with famous game designer John Carmack on a VR blog led to Luckey sending his only working prototype to Carmack to try out. After being thoroughly impressed with the results, Carmack put the device on display at E3, the largest gaming convention in the North America. Luckey was nowhere ready for the publicity and inquiries that came after that. But the rest is what makes history.
Oculus Today
Flash forward 2 years, and Luckey and Carmack now work together in an office building in Irvine, Calif. Joined by Nate Mitchell and Brendan Iribe, previously from game software company Scaleform, they are creating something worth noticing. Well, I guess that’s only if over 2 billion in assets is worth noticing to you. But seriously, with over $2,400,000 backed on Kickstarter, $75 million in venture capital, and the new deal with Facebook, Oculus is set to design the stage for VR in any way they please. Yes, they will have competition from larger companies such as Sony, who already has a VR headset. However, compared with the Sony’s $1,000 price tag, the current Oculus Rift Developer model sounds good to a value-minded hacker at only $350.
With so much growth in just the last year, be sure to keep your eyes on Oculus and the future. Especially make sure to mind your surroundings, because you might end up in a virtual world before you know it.
Most Righteous Entertainment 