I backed the original Oculus Rift, and felt massively betrayed when they sold to Meta. :(
For years since I’ve been waiting for A VR solution that plays nice with Linux and is at least somewhat privacy-respecting, and I have been absolutely unwilling to buy a Quest device or anything else. I want to play VR but I’m not willing to sell my soul for it. So it’s been an unhappy but conscious boycott from me.
I too then am super looking forward to the Steam Frame because it’s the device I need to get back into VR and feel happy and excited about it, rather than disgusted.
That makes it sound like these startups have no choice in the matter. The funny thing is, you don’t have to sell your company to an enormous evil corporation if you don’t want to.
Depends on who your initial investors are and the contract you signed with them. They can and will force a sale if their RoI isn’t met in a specific time-frame, or if the buyout price reaches a certain valuation.
Partly true but Amazon has been known to make dupes of a product and sell it at a loss to drive the competitor out of business. I’m sure that threat lingers in some peoples’ minds.
They probably also promise the management team “you’ll still have creative control after we buy you”. Then turn around and replace each of them one by one
I backed the original Oculus Rift, and felt massively betrayed when they sold to Meta. :(
For years since I’ve been waiting for A VR solution that plays nice with Linux and is at least somewhat privacy-respecting, and I have been absolutely unwilling to buy a Quest device or anything else. I want to play VR but I’m not willing to sell my soul for it. So it’s been an unhappy but conscious boycott from me.
I too then am super looking forward to the Steam Frame because it’s the device I need to get back into VR and feel happy and excited about it, rather than disgusted.
Palmer Lucky turning into a Bond villain wasn’t exactly something I expected when I first saw him pushing the original Kickstarter Oculus
This has been such a depressing trend over the last few decades.
Fresh bright-eyed startup with a passionate creator develops some interesting and innovative product.
Gets bought out by FAANG, turns to shit and stops working properly or gets discontinued, and primarily functions as a spyware device.
That makes it sound like these startups have no choice in the matter. The funny thing is, you don’t have to sell your company to an enormous evil corporation if you don’t want to.
Depends on who your initial investors are and the contract you signed with them. They can and will force a sale if their RoI isn’t met in a specific time-frame, or if the buyout price reaches a certain valuation.
Partly true but Amazon has been known to make dupes of a product and sell it at a loss to drive the competitor out of business. I’m sure that threat lingers in some peoples’ minds.
They probably also promise the management team “you’ll still have creative control after we buy you”. Then turn around and replace each of them one by one
In capitalism you do. Society demands it.