One of the challenges of being part of a publicly traded company…is being part of a publicly traded company. Gamasutra just ran an article that according to Facebook’s earnings report meeting, they do not have plans to release a consumer version of the Oculus Rift in 2015.
Q: Mark, does the opex [operating expense] guide assume an Oculus product for consumers this calendar year? And will the initial product focus on gaming, or more around the experiences you showed at F8 around non-gaming, like that Saturday Night Live demo?
A: Ben, let me take the opex guidance question. So we have not announced any specific plans for shipment volumes in 2015 related to Oculus. I just note that Oculus is very much in the development stage, so it’s early to be talking about large shipment volumes, and our expense guidance reflects any volumes that we might do in 2015.
Does this mean Oculus indeed won’t be shipping in 2015? Who knows. Official plans can change, and with multiple viable competitors entering the space sooner than later, Oculus might be rethinking their game plan and jumping in after others have locked in their specifications and manufacturing process. OR…maybe the Facebook plan has little to do with VR hardware, and their interests are more on the software sales and API side of things, and the hardware is just a catalyst to drum up interest and sales.
The year is stll young, and there is much to see in 2015!