Just minutes after Facebook’s announcement that it acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion on Tuesday, early supporters of the project took to Kickstarter to voice their displeasure about the deal.
“What in hell was the point of Kickstarter if you sell out to a giant company like Facebook?” Michael Cooper wrote on the project’s Kickstarter comment page. “This is very disappointing. I will no longer be supporting the Oculus Rift in anyway.”
That was just one of many comments criticizing the deal, which will make the world’s biggest social network the owner of the hottest virtual-reality headset around.
Other commenters weighed in with similar reactions ranging from mild disappointment to sheer outrage:
- “Well, I’m kind of horrified. I’d never have backed this if I’d had an inkling this might happen. Very happy I didn’t preorder the second devkit; I’m going to wait and see what competitors might pop up.” — Svein Ove Aas
- “All I can say with absolute certainty is I absolutely do not like, use, nor trust Facebook as a company. While my funds are yours fair and square, at this moment in time, I regret backing this. I sincerely hope I am wrong.” — Brad’li
- “Wow I am in shock…VR was soo close… Now I feel we are back in 1993 again. What a setback. I had so much hope for this project. You really need to give us a proper explanation for this move…” — Mathias Hagstrom
- “Wow, I misjudged you… sorry to hear I was backing Facebook in the end… thanks for that.” — Tim Pettigrew
- “I too want my $10 back. I don’t want my VR experience in the Facebook mall.” — Avram Eisner
- “Horrible… HORRIBLE decision. I want my donation back.” — Mike Yoo
- “I would have NEVER given a single cent of my money to Oculus if I had known you were going to sell out to Facebook. You sold all of us out. I hope this backfires horribly for Oculus and Facebook. I will personally discourage absolutely anyone I know from buying what was once an indie dream and is now a soulless corporate cash cow. God, I want a refund so badly.” — John Wolf
At the time of this writing, not one comment on the Oculus Rift Kickstarter page conveyed a positive reaction to news of the acquisition.
Oculus Rift may be one of the biggest Kickstarter exits in history, but if early reactions are any indication, Facebook may have some fence-mending to do in the coming weeks.
Unfortunately, for disgruntled supporters, Kickstarter doesn’t have a money-back-guarantee clause for projects that ride your donations to a multi-billion-dollar payday.
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By Adario Strange, mashable.com
