AT SXSW, a techie festival that took place in Texas earlier this month, some lucky attenders were able briefly to immerse themselves in HBO’s fantasy television series, “Game of Thrones”. By donning virtual-reality goggles made by Oculus VR, people could see how the world looked from the top of the 700-foot-tall Wall that protects the Seven Kingdoms from enemies that lurk beyond. The digital rendition was so lifelike that gazing down from the Wall gave some folk vertigo.Such a compelling experience explains why Oculus Rift, the company’s virtual-reality headset, has captivated keen gamers. It has also caught the attention of Facebook, which announced on March 25th that it had bought Oculus VR for around $2 billion. This deal, which comprises $400m in cash and the rest in Facebook stock, comes not long after the social network’s purchase of WhatsApp, a messaging app, for $19 billion.WhatsApp at least has more than 450m users. Oculus VR, a startup that is less than two years old, has so far only sold its headsets to game developers. So why is Facebook paying so much for it? And why is it betting on...
from The Economist: Business http://ift.tt/P6AzeE
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