Facebook is closing hundreds of its Oculus VR pop-ups in Best Buys

Volgore

"Facebook is closing around 200 of its 500 Oculus virtual reality demo stations at Best Buy locations across the US, Business Insider has learned."

Aftermath of the lawsuit?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.de/facebook-closing-200-oculus-best-buy-pop-ups-poor-store-performance-2017-2?r=US&IR=T

Ikeda

Shame because that was what sold me on OR in the first place.  Getting to test it and try it sold me on it.  ESPECIALLY the Touch.  But that being said, it's only got a couple of good games so far.  Without more support, VR will die.

Blaze_Rocker

I saw this coming weeks ago, and my BB didn't even have an OR display. With other VR units and adaptors already on the market Oculus Rift is just too late to the party.

Forgrimm

Not really surprised. Putting something that's relatively niche in a mainstream electronics store wouldn't seem like it would generate a lot of buzz or interest.

cheyane

This ended being a bad investment for Facebook. When they originally bought this it was lauded as a good investment but they were too slow.

laserit

Call me up when the resolution = 4k per eye.

Vrika

Volgore said:

Aftermath of the lawsuit?

It's not aftermath of lawsuit. It's settled now, and for a company like Facebook even a payment of that scale doesn't affect their normal operations.

It's caused by much more simple reason of those pop-ups not selling enough Rifts.

MadFrenchie

Forgrimm said:

Not really surprised. Putting something that's relatively niche in a mainstream electronics store wouldn't seem like it would generate a lot of buzz or interest.

While true, I thought the two largest goals for producers at this point was to grow the consumer base and title list as much as possible.  To that end, placing it in stores serving the most niche customers doesn't seem like a good idea; exposure to the general public does, which is exactly what Best Buy offered, particularly with demo booths.

Phaserlight

It gives the reason for the closures right in the article's title: 

"...after some stores went days without a single demo"

So the demo-booth traffic just isn't there at Best Buy. I don't think it has anything to do with the lawsuit. 

I found this an interesting choice of words:

"the technology has yet to break into the mainstream like mobile phones."

Funnily enough, the technology runs on some phones.

craftseeker

Where is seanmcad?
I would have thought he would be all over this thread telling us what wonderful news this was for the industry in the year of VR!

Phaserlight

Seen at a Publix today:



It ain't over until a certain proverbial melody is heard.

Blaze_Rocker

Phaserlight said:

Seen at a Publix today:



It ain't over until a certain proverbial melody is heard.

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't call virtual reality a "new" scientific discovery. I played a couple VR games back in the 90s.

maskedweasel

I wouldn't really call it surprising.  The Gear VR demos are much easier as you don't need someone there, less intrusive... takes up much less space and manpower.  

That being said VR in general has kind of gone stagnant. We may see an uptick of VR headset sales next month with Microsofts VR set releasing.  

But overall I think we're at a point where MOST of the people that were really die hard about VR either have a set, or have settled at least on waiting until prices are reasonable.

I've been interested in Microsofts VR set as it seems to at least be somewhat cost effective for a PC set in comparison to the others on the market.  I haven't used my gear VR in many months.  


On another note, we may see a consumer version of some AR sets released this year.  Here's to hoping.

https://volume.vox-cdn.com/e5a6a901-991b-48ce-9977-800e6a85da20

Phaserlight

Meanwhile, over at Valve:

http://www.polygon.com/features/2017/2/15/14616192/gabe-newell-interview-vr

Octagon7711

Torval said:

Maybe Best Buy isn't a great outlet for them either. Most people I know buy that sort of stuff elsewhere. I can't think of a reason to even go to one except maybe to pick up a peripheral (monitor, mouse, keyboard, etc) you can't get somewhere else cheaper right away.

Long ago, I use to go to Best Buy a few times a week, now I can't remember the last time I was in one.

Volgore

Everybody stop posting here already.

I don't want to get these notifications anymore!!1

Vrika

@Volgore

You can disable those notifications in settings:
http://forums.mmorpg.com/profile/preferences

Volgore

Vrika said:

@Volgore

You can disable those notifications in settings:
http://forums.mmorpg.com/profile/preferences

I know, I was just being a dramaqueen.


But i'll give you an "insightful" for trying to help me out

laserit

Floor space doesn't come cheap