Oculus VR acquired RakNet, one of the leading networking middleware systems in the gaming industry owned by Jenkins Software LLC. The virtual reality company made the acquisition prior to the completion of its transaction with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB).
The social network giant entered an agreement to acquire Oculus VR for approximately $2 billion in cash and stock last March.
Oculus VR did not reveal the terms of the RakNet transaction. This is the second acquisition of the virtual-reality company prior to its merger with Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB). The company previously purchased Carbon Design Group, an industrial design and product engineering company. Carbon Design developed the Xbox 360 controller for Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT).
Oculus VR open-sourced RakNet
Oculus VR decided to open-source RakNet following its acquisition. According to the virtual reality company, the game networking engine is now open-sourced under a modified BSD license from Oculus GiftHub repo.
Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) uses a similar license for its open source projects, according to the virtual reality company.
Oculus VR said it had a long relationship with Kevin Jenkins, the founder of Jenkins Software and lead engineer at RakNet. According to the virtual reality company,”We’ve used RakNet internally at Oculus for various networked systems and tools. After working with Kevin for a few months, we were all excited by the idea of open-sourcing RakNet to the community.”
Oculus VR says RakNet is designed for ease of use and performance
Oculus VR explained that RakNet is a comprehensive C++ game networking engine. It is designed of ease of use and performance. The virtual reality company emphasized that RakNet’s technology is set for cross-platform and high-performance applications that operates across a wide variety of networks.
The primary features of RakNet include object replication, remote procedure calls, patching, secure connections, voice chat, and real-time SQL logging. Numerous indie developers and companies including Unity, Havok, Mojang and Sony Online Entertainment already licensed the technology.
Oculus VR announces developer conference
In addition to the RakNet acquisition, Oculus VR also announced its developer conference dubbed Oculus Connect to bring together designers and engineers around the world to collaborate and share their interest in creating the best virtual reality experiences.
Oculus Connect will be held on September 19-20 at the Loews Hotel in Los Angeles, California.
