INTERVIEW NATE MITCHELL, OCULUS
I think in the long-term, when we ship the first consumer version, it will become economically viable very quickly. But until then, when there are no units in the field outside of the development kits, it is hard.” Mitchell adds that each publishing
deal it is signing is looking different. Some just want added marketing support; others are looking for more significant investment. But perhaps the biggest element
that will help convince developers to jump on-board was a certain $2bn acquisition from Facebook.
FACEBOOK FACTOR There was a week in March that will go down as a pivotal seven days in the history of VR. First, Sony unveiled that it was
also getting in to the space with Project Morpheus. And although it is a rival to Oculus, it’s one the team welcomed with open arms. “Morpheus really validated us,
even though Facebook then bought us and we ended up validating Sony,” says Mitchell. “But with Sony being in, it will hopefully be putting money behind publishing more games and it gives developers more platforms. I just want to see amazing VR games being made. So if you’re Take-Two, instead of just having a million people on Oculus there is also another million on Morpheus. Everybody wins.” The next moment was when
Facebook announced its intention to acquire Oculus. The initial reaction from some corners of the media, and certain Facebook- hating developers, was negative. They didn’t like the idea that this promising new start-up was now part of the social network giant. Yet Facebook’s move has brought confidence to VR. “There were a number of people
who reached out to us on the day the deal happened saying: ‘Congratulations, it is incredible to finally have a new platform.’ And this
was from high level executives from across the industry,” recalls Mitchell. “Because you know with
Facebook that this thing is going to happen. It’s not this hardware start-up that’s making this new VR platform. We have the backing to do everything we said we were going to do. Even though I think we would have delivered without Facebook, it would have just been a riskier road. So it adds a lot of confidence. People now feel that VR is coming in a big way.”
LAWSUIT REALITY Another similarity between Oculus and Wii is in the legal challenges. Nintendo has been fighting off lawsuits from companies who all insist they came up with the idea of motion controlling games first. And now Oculus is facing litigation of its own from Bethesda owner Zenimax, which claims it had helped the firm and deserves a slice of that Facebook money. “Personally, I thought when we announced the Facebook deal it would inevitably wake-up a couple of people who wanted a piece of the pie,” admits Mitchell. “That’s just what happens. As soon as there is money in the
air, the sharks come out. Is it something we were prepared for? Mentally I was sort of preparing myself. It is what it is.” In many ways the lawsuit is just another form of validation. No-one is asking if VR is going to come out anymore, but when? “Our vision of what the consumer version of the Rift
Oculus won the Technical Innovation prize at the 2014 Develop Awards
refresh rate, then it is not a good experience and it is not virtual reality. To get to that spot where we put it on and we’re like ‘We did it, the holodeck is here’, that really does take a level of perfection.
As soon as there is money in the air, the sharks come out. It is what it is.
Nate Mitchell, Oculus
needed to be has changed,” says Mitchell, responding to our question about a launch date. “When people see it they will
understand why it took so long and why it was so important to get it right. But at the end of the day, VR is not this thing that can just be ‘good enough’. There is no good enough with VR. If you are dropping frames, you have super- high latency and you have a bad
OCULUS VS CONSOLES Oculus and Morpheus have their challenges – particularly around price and publisher support. But if you are one of the lucky ones that have put on the headset and entered the world of Alien or Eve or Elite, you’ll likely already believe that VR is about to change everything. It is the future. Of course, when you make a statement like that, the question that follows is always: So what’s being left in the past? Does VR pose another threat to consoles? “We don’t see them as competition,” insists Mitchell. “We’d love to work with them. “People won’t be choosing PlayStation or Xbox over a Rift or vice versa. It is a completely different experience. It’s an addition. It is an entirely new medium and unlike anything you have seen before. And that’s what’s so exciting about it.” So just like Nintendo Wii then.
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 16TH - BAFTA, LONDON
Day-long conference and expo examining the future of games - what we’re selling and how we’ll be selling it Curated by the team behind MCV First speakers announced soon Tickets £149 (plus VAT) - book now via
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July 11th 2014 16
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