Facebook made a massive acquisition worth $2 billion last year when it bought Oculus VR, and since then, it has been confronted with several questions, including when the purchase will start yielding revenue. However, now we may have an answer. Sometime this year, the technology could start contributing to the company’s financials, says a report from The New York Times.
Many hints point at a release this year
Recently, Facebook conducted its F8 developer conference in San Francisco, where Mike Schroepfer, vice president of engineering, gave a demonstration of the new spaceship game Eve: Valkyrie to developers gathered from different parts of the world.
An audio recording of Schroepfer’s remarks during the game demo hints at availability, saying, “You’re going to be able to do this year in VR. This is going to be incredible. And you’re going to be doing it in something shipped by Oculus.” Rift, the flagship product of Oculus, is a virtual reality headset, and its release date has been suggested by a senior executive for the first time.
Also suggesting a release this year, at the South by Southwest conference held earlier this month, Oculus’ founder Palmer Luckey asserted that the product would come out this year.
Facebook denying the release
However, Schroepfer turned down any request to talk, says the report. But in reply to a tweet from The New York Times, he said, “Did not announce anything regarding shipping just said pc hardware available this year can create these experiences.” Also, Facebook published a statement later that was not in line what Schroepfer had said. As per the statement issued, Schroepfer meant the major components for the technology are ready today, such as GPUs, CPU and 3D engine technology, which will assist in developing virtual reality in the future.
If true, then in the next nine months, Oculus will be required to deliver two products that are not easy to manufacture because of their complex nature. Gear VR is a technology that is compatible with all the high-end smartphones and tablets from Samsung. The mobile version of this technology will be available this fall, according to the Chief Technology Officer of Oculus, John Carmack, who told game developers in March.
