Google made its Android operating software successful by selling it to numerous different hardware manufacturers. Valve licensed its Steam platform and OS to companies to make Steam-dedicated computers and controllers. Now, Oculus VR, developer of the Rift virtual reality headset for PC, is attempting to do the same with its technology.
In a report in Bloomberg, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe revealed that the company is actively seeking corporations who wish to break into the VR industry. The company is too small to develop and manufacture the Rift by itself, Iribe explained. “If we do want to get a billion people on virtual reality, which is our goal, we’re not going to sell 1 billion pairs of glasses ourselves,” he said. “We are openly talking to any kind of partner that wants to jump into VR, and there’s a lot of interest right now.”
Oculus is still a relatively small company and has yet to release a commercial version of the Rift. Facebook, who acquired Oculus in March, has no experience with hardware manufacturing, either. It makes sense that the company would seek partners elsewhere to help spread its headset.
Interestingly, one of those potential partners is Sony, who is developing its own VR headset called Project Morpheus. Oculus and Sony have shown each other their respective headsets and Iribe said that Oculus is open to a partnership. “We showed their key executives our prototypes, and we said if you want to work with us, we are happy to engage deeply and be friends in this industry,” he said. ‘It hasn’t gone anywhere past that, but they did show up and opened up to us and in turn we opened up to them.”
This week, Oculus announced that it had bought Carbon Design Group, the company responsible for the Xbox 360 controller, steering wheel, and Kinect, among other products. The team will help Oculus with “unannounced projects,” but no details have emerged yet.
| Alex Newhouse is an editorial intern at GameSpot, and you can follow him on Twitter @alexbnewhouse |
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