In a post to the company’s official blog, Oculus CEO Brendan Iribe confirms he’ll be stepping down from the company’s top position to head the new PC VR group. Founder Palmer Luckey will also land in a new role.

mark zuckerberg brendan iribe
Brendan Iribe with Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg

Brendan Iribe was one of Oculus founding team members back when the company formed in 2012. He’s held the role of CEO ever since, including through the company’s 2014 acquisition by Facebook. Now, following the launch of the Rift headset and Touch controllers in 2016, Iribe confirms he’ll be stepping away from the CEO role to head a new, internal PC-focused VR group, which will operate alongside a Mobile-focused VR group within the company.

“…we’ve decided to establish new PC and mobile VR groups to be more focused, strengthen development and accelerate our roadmap,” Iribe writes. “Looking ahead and thinking about where I’m most passionate, I’ve decided to lead the PC VR group—pushing the state of VR forward with Rift, research and computer vision. As we’ve grown, I really missed the deep, day-to-day involvement in building a brand new product on the leading edge of technology.”

SEE ALSO
Hands-on: Oculus' Wireless 'Santa Cruz' Prototype Makes Standalone Room-scale Tracking a Reality

At present, that leaves Oculus without a executive head. Iribe says that he, along with Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, and Jon Thomason will seek a new leader for the Oculus team. Thomason recently joined Oculus to head the Mobile VR group, and has worked previously as the VP of mobile shopping at Amazon.

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey

Oculus founder Palmer Luckey, who has shied away from the spotlight following community and developer backlash to his association with a polarizing political group, remains with the company and will be taking on a new role, Oculus confirmed to The Verge. So far that role is undisclosed, though the companys says more details on Luckey role will be made available soon.

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Ben is the world's most senior professional analyst solely dedicated to the XR industry, having founded Road to VR in 2011—a year before the Oculus Kickstarter sparked a resurgence that led to the modern XR landscape. He has authored more than 3,000 articles chronicling the evolution of the XR industry over more than a decade. With that unique perspective, Ben has been consistently recognized as one of the most influential voices in XR, giving keynotes and joining panel and podcast discussions at key industry events. He is a self-described "journalist and analyst, not evangelist."
  • Bryan Ischo

    I hope I can start the discussion off on the right tone, by saying that I hope that this move is good for both people as well as for VR in general. I hope that their talents can be put to best use in these new positions and in a way that is good for the entire VR ecosystem. Wishing them all the best despite these (in my opinion, overblown) controversies.

    • james harrison

      So … the “right tone” is to express only positive comments towards a man like Palmer while asserting that the controversies associated with his support for political trolling are “overblown.”

      Great. Now that I know what the right tone is, I’ll try not to hit any wrong notes.

      • Get Schwifty!

        As if political trolling is limited to Palmer’s side? Really? Hmmmm….

        Maybe a balanced, realistic admission that both parties are responsible for trolling is the more enlightened attitude rather than taking the easy shot against a guy who gave a pittance to a group who had some members with view points he didn’t support?

        • james harrison

          So you’re busting out the Kindergarten Defense?

          “Those other kids did it too!”

          A: it always seems like a juvenile way to avoid the actual subject at hand, kind of like shouting “Look over there!” to try to redirect someone’s attention away from whatever it is you don’t want them to pay attention to, and ..

          B: It often simply isn’t true. It’s lame to insist that “both sides do it!” whatever “it” is, without providing ANY evidence to back up your assertion. It reminds me of Trump supporters who, when confronted with direct evidence of his racism, responded by accusing Clinton of racism, without, you know, offering any “evidence” to back up their claims.

          • nebošlo

            I’d argue the other side was far worse, labeling half of an entire country as sexist and racist for, and I can’t stress this enough, *no good reason*. That’s fucking disgusting.

          • Jack Liddon

            Half the country turned out to be sexist and racist. I think that’s pretty clear. Not sure why anyone should feel guilty about that.

          • james harrison

            So … you have a guy who brags about grabbing women he doesn’t know by the genitals, and this is the same guy who calls Mexican immigrants “rapists” … Why would anyone consider the supporters of such a man to be sexist and/or racist?

            It’s such a mystery …

          • Mike

            Strawman. You’re modifying reality to make it sound worse. Never said “he didn’t know”, and the wording implied consent. Never said “all mexican immigrants” – he specifically said in the same quote that some aren’t, and was only talking about the ones that immigrate illegally. And “mexican immigrant” is not a race. Do you also believe than “immigrant from the United States to Mexico” is a race?

          • james harrison

            Yes, of course, how silly of me! Mexico is such a cosmopolitan country, so there is just NO way for us to know the race of “Mexican immigrants.” They could be Asian for all we know! In fact, the very LAST thing I think of, when I think of “Mexican immigrants,” is, you know, actual “Mexicans.” And I’m sure Trump and all his supporters feel exactly the same way.

            The nice thing about confronting an argument as dishonest as that? There is no need to counter it. It counters itself.

          • Mike

            “Mexico is such a cosmopolitan country”
            62% of Mexicans are part European, ~10% are purely European, and only 28% are non-European. So… Trump is racist against Europeans?
            https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_Mexico#Ethnic_groups

            Also you ignored the part about him explicitly stating he was only talking about those that immigrated illegally, and only part of that subgroup.

            Remember, Trump was a registered Democrat until a few years ago. Remember, he’s just appointed several black people, other minorities, and women to his cabinet. His campaign manager was a woman. Claims that he’s “racist” and “sexist” look more absurd every day. Not saying he was a great candidate – he has some issues. But he’s not what the media makes him out to be.

          • Channonbom

            let me guess you get all your news from facebook feeds

          • nebošlo

            You’re not very good at guessing. The simple fact is you’ve alienated moderate people who don’t buy into your hate-mongering and redefining of terms.

      • Bryan Ischo

        Much appreciated!

      • Nein

        James nobody cares Palmer trolled with Trump. Grow up.

        • james harrison

          Sure. That’s why Palmer went into the witness protection program. Because “nobody” cares.

      • Jacob Roberts

        Lol… nice…

      • CoffeeBuzz

        Who cares who Palmer supports politically. the real and only view here is how he continues to help VR. GO to huff post for the political mumbo . Jeez

    • Pauly

      That didn’t last long. Good effort though!

  • Octogod

    Shocking news, but Oculus went from market leader to behind HTC and Sony this year. It seemed like they failed at every opportunity to take advantage of the market momentum. Enjoy my Rift, but they waited to long.

    • Mario-Galouzeau de Bocsa

      VR is a marathon, not a sprint. I’d be very surprised if HTC still leads PC market at this time. Unless HTC have big suprises revealed soon, Oculus long term strategy might pay off in 2017.
      I just hope Palmer Luckey’s new role will be as far from the media as possible.

      • ummm…

        why would you be surprised if HTC continues their “dominance” and what do you think the oculus long term strategy is?

        • Mario-Galouzeau de Bocsa

          Polish their hardware, support software development at a large scale.
          It’s no mistery early adopters prefered Vive over Oculus because of VR controlers. Not saying Vive isn’t good, but it lost its main selling point.

          • ummm…

            not at all. the rift roomscale solution is not as accurate, or as robust. additionally it is more expensive. if the long term strategy is to make it equivalent in quality to the vive at the same price – and to still offer polished software – then we have a real war. But, at the moment i dont see them taking roomscale seriously and respecting their customer (with a better more accurate and elegant solution), nor do i see them bringing the cost to consumer under control. What i do see is a real commitment to polished programs that take advantage of seated and front facing experiences. and that is great. but nothing that the steam store can’t beat.

            anyhow, enjoy your rift. it certainly is nice. but it is not as usable, elegant, or future proof (as future proof as vr can be) as the vive. Doesn’t really matter at this point. we’ve both spent our money already. who knows – you and i may be playing a fove or osvr in a year or two!

          • DougP

            On the user-friendly/elegant topic –
            Omg… how many USB 3 cables does one have to have?
            I mean, for my size room (~3m x 2.75m) I’d need minimally 3x cameras with the Rift (prob 4x to be safe).
            I’m already USING USB 3.0 ports & have a very modern+high-end mobo (x99 Pro Asus).
            I’d have to buy a separate USB 3.0 card to get enough ports…then run frigging USB cables all over my ceiling.

            Again…. it just proves that room-scale was an after-thought/playing catch-up after they realized the public demand for this, after successful Vive launch/room-scale game adoption.

            Here’s hoping they learn their lesson(s) going forward.
            Honestly see the best approach as abandoning the USB-camera approach & going w/something similar to the lighthouse solution for the Rift 2.0. Or, outside-in tracking, if that can be perfected in time & cost effective enough.

          • Get Schwifty!

            I think they underestimated the room scale marketing impact, but I think the calculated the real-world desire (currently) for it. You wouldn’t have to buy another card, for your other devices you could easily use a USB hub.

            Now could Oculus go the Lighthouse route for to compete with Vive? Perhaps, but I think they won’t because their goal is to develop VR and see camera recognition in a relatively short time as playing a role, bringing in the user and their environment. Should they short-circuit that development path just to engage in Lighthouse which doesn’t really scale all that well, and can in no way offer the advantages that a camera based system in time will (and yes I know the current cameras are IR only)? This only makes sense if your desire is to limit VR to what it is currently for home room scale play; this is not the plan here. FWIW, I play now on a 15″ gaming laptop and have enough USB ports for the HMD and two cameras. If want more I have an external GPU enclosure that adds 4, no problem. Perusing several makes of gaming desktop at a minimum they have 5 USB 3.0 ports and 2 USB 2,0 ports. Again, more than enough.

          • Yes. Oculus wants to be Facebook for VR which isn’t a correct approach either. I for one am not into Facebook but use it only because my family and friends do. The also screwed up the installation by forcing me to use my C drive which is now redlining and yet I have five times that space on my D drive. Idiots. What they did get right was the light weight headset though.

          • ummm…

            wait, are you a rift user? i dont understand. you are admitting the limitations and strategic misteps of oculus? this can’t be. your not a rift user are you?

          • I am and it is crap compared to Vive. I subscribe to the Steve Job’s motto in that I just want it to freaking work.

          • ummm…

            steve. i take no pleasure in hearing you say that. i partly feel like im being trolled because rift users dont really say the things you do. However, i dont think it is crap at all – from my limited exposure. I think thats a strong word. But, I do think that there are large enough differences to make it a very easy decision (in favor of the vive) for a consumer that is looking to buy into the “revolution”. The rift does have a suite of games that has some polish – be them seated or not.

            But you hit the nail on the head. The vive “works”. And the ecosystem it operates in makes it even more attractive to devs and gamers. I really wish that the oculus would have gotten their strategy straight, or not have rushed to market with band aid solutions. It is a really terrible place for rifters to be in – but on the bright side, it still is an amazing piece of tech, when you dont do a comparison.

          • popupblocker

            Er.. you do know you can Daisy chain 127 USB ports to one root hub.. so 1 hub can drive the lot.

            As opposed to the POWER cables you have to run to ceiling for the Vive Lighthouses right? You know those are cables too right?

            Vive has 3 or 5 Power packs – Rift none.
            Vive still uses something like 8 internal USB connections via it’s internal hub / breakout box.

            Lighthouses are an accurate solution but not an easy one! They have spinning mechanics inside! And often ping out and don’t sync perfectly – thus needing the sync wire across the ceiling too.

            totally agree on the inside out – it will come.

          • DougP

            Re: “Er.. you do know you can Daisy chain 127 USB”
            Never seen it recommended to “daisy chain” 127 USB 3.0 ports.
            Wow – that’s *elegant* for you.
            I’m just about maxed out on USB 3.0 ports now, or would be if I went with a 3-4x camera setup.

            Re: “As opposed to the POWER cables you have to run to ceiling for”
            Ummm….If you’re running power cables on the ceiling with the Vive, you’re doing it wrong.
            You simply plug power into the TWO (not 3 or 4x cameras) on opposing sides of the room.

            Re:”And often ping out and don’t sync perfectly – thus needing the sync wire across the ceiling too”
            Ok….now it really shows you’re just full of it & making crap up.

            “ping out and don’t sync perfectly” – seriously, wtf?!
            I’ve had my Vive running regularly, several dozens of people using it, near daily, since April. Not “ping out” (whatever the hell that’s supposed to mean).
            As for the sync cable – that happens to be there as an alternative for rooms where the two lighthouses can’t *see* each other. Objects/ceiling stuff/walls/corners/etc in way.

            Re: “Vive has 3 or 5 Power packs – Rift none.”
            Please, don’t be misleading/disingenuous.
            Vive system uses 3x power plugs to operate – 1 for ea Lighthouse & 1 for the headset.
            You do realize there are these little things called “power strips”, in case someone doesn’t have enough power outlets.
            Basically you just need a power outlet at either side of the room ….and then ZERO cables between things – not 4x 20-25foot USB cables strung across your ceiling, dangling, back to your PC (which is out of USB ports).

            You’re REALLY stretching there trying to make the Rift sound elegant/less hassle. Hint: it’s not, it’s a major hassle & problematic to setup full roomscale for a lot of people. At least those like myself with a 15×13’+ room. I can’t imagine how much I’d spend just on 3-4x 25’+ USB 3.0 cables & how ugly it would look.

          • popupblocker

            Wow you are deluded. So you have 2 power points up there right on the ceiling right?

            So 3 power packs as I said with 2 more for charging = 5

            Plus a freaking break out box

            You *can* daisy chain 127 USB.

            Rift camera don’t have to be ceiling mounted – they are desk mounted either side of the monitor and 1 more behind. I’ve routed mine along the skirting. So what?

            Sync wire is over needed in certain lighting and room setups so clearly don’t know everything despite being a rude duchebag.

          • DougP

            Re: “So 3 power packs as I said with 2 more for charging = 5”
            So you’re counting the power plugs to CHARGE?!
            “deluded”
            Yes, you ARE delusional if you think the Touch controller batteries charge themselves magically without plug. wtf?!

            Reading comprehension issues much?
            I wrote:
            “Vive system uses 3x power plugs to operate – 1 for ea Lighthouse & 1 for the headset.”

            Again, by your calculations the Rift Touch controllers NEVER need to be charged. Seriously?

            I can’t tell if you’re:
            1) being intentionally obtuse (/just ill informed?)
            2) getting paid by the post by Facebook’s PR department to defend their inelegant tracking system

            Re: “You *can* daisy chain 127 USB.”

            I do not believe that you can run a SINGLE USB 3.0 cable to a hub & then run the entire Rift system off of that single cable, along with 4x cameras. Too much bandwidth. You’ll run into issues.

            Again, intentionally being obtuse? Or ill informed?

            Re: “Sync wire is over needed in certain lighting and room setups”

            Ummm…rude douchebug pot-kettle-black… I already said sync can be used in cases where the Lighthouses can’t see ea other.

            A vast majority of people DON’T need it. Which is nice that they include it for the rare cases.

            Of course….your douchebag comment, incorrect as your other ones, was, & I quote:
            “And often ping out and don’t sync perfectly”
            *often* – which is incorrect.

            Look, I get it that you’re a fanboy of the Rift. That’s fine. Just don’t be such an apologist & go out of your way to make up lies/excuses to cover their very inelegant room-scale solution.
            If you can’t admit that there are a lot of challenges with it, then there’s no way to have an intelligent conversation about this.

            You have a right to your own opinion ….but not facts. Facts are facts.

          • Get Schwifty!

            This is the problem here… you guys hate on Rift so much it goes to extremes. For some reason it seems to be endemic at R2VR, more so than any other place and I suspect good old “Drive Bye” Kent’s little Op-Ed pieces have something to do with it since they magically appear at punctuated points to undercut any advance Oculus makes and preach to his choir.

            is the tracking as robust? No, but it works well enough compared to Vive that it basically doesn’t matter. Is it more expensive? That depends, if you factor in buying round 2 of Vive controllers to equal the Touch at this stage, not really, best case they are equal, worst case they are the same.

            As a customer I and many others don’t feel “disrespected” in the least. Room scale most definitely works, I can tell you that with a first-hand certainty, all the way to the ground in fact despite “Drive Bye’s” repeating FUD. Tracking only becomes an issue with poorly placed cameras or balling up the controllers (a problem too with the Vive wands and any controllers, thought a bit more with Touch due to the design).

            How you conclude it is not as usable unless you are referring to a slight degree difference in tracking makes no sense, and its easily as future proof as the Vive. All your comments wrap around two points: tracking which has been objectively shown to be not quite as good as Vive but its far, far from poor, in fact if we didn’t have the allure of the lighthouse system and a greatly exaggerated meme about “light” being so superior everyone would talk about how good it really is. The second point is just a thinly veiled dislike for Facebook, and the fact Oculus supports exclusives, forgetting in the process that its not about a store front, its about making a brand statement. That and the fact all Rift owners get the advantage of both Oculus Home and anything that comes out on Steam, so you know, it’s kinda of a nice thing in a way if you own a Rift ;)

            Why you guys have to constantly grind on Oculus is the fact you fear it on a certain level. If you truly thought it was really a 10th as bad as you make it out, dying in the field, and with customers who hate it then what is the issue for you? The reality is Facebook/Oculus are a juggernaut who got off to a slow start, don’t have the *best* tracking, but that’s about it, at least from the perspective of Rift owners. They have a very good system, top-notch titles at the moment, and a very refined controller setup. They also have a decades long commitment to VR, and they even support room scale but they don’t focus on it as much as Vive. Room scale is nice, but its not the whole enchilada out there. If it really is the true demand niche in VR do honestly think Oculus won’t make it a priority despite the fact it does it today despite the silly “experimental” moniker they foolishly attached to it.

            I would even take issue with the idea of “hard” to set up, judging by what I have read about setting up the Vive the reality is its easier to setup the Rift outside of the cable placement and that is seriously overplayed as a concern. I would go so far as to say the Rift has as I am discovering one possible heretofore unrealized strength, that of a fairly self-contained setup that is more mobile. Given the plethora of laptops now supporting VR, I could easily see even traveling with the system, connecting it up and not having as many issues with finding power and placement for Lighthouse. Not the difference of night and day, but its pretty cool to think about rapidly pulling the HMD and two cameras for some light VR experiences on the road.

            Lastly, I really don’t buy the “fractured market” bogeyman either, if Vive wants to plant its flag on room scale, so be it, but I guarantee you a lot of titles, probably the majority will effectively be front-facing/standing titles, effectively what Oculus has been saying all along. Devs are (usually) bright people, and if they think something makes or doesn’t make sense over time they will act accordingly, and no moves by Oculus will really make that change.

            Some therapy: Vive is selling well, Oculus is selling well, VR is not going to die, and room scale is here to stay for both camps and all the “exclusives” will be open in time, you just don’t get to play them day one with a VIve. Trust me, it will be okay, no one is going to take your toy away.

          • ummm…

            didnt read. im done with you. nobody hates the rift. what we hate are rifters jumping through hoops to try to be “on top” when in reality the facts say the the rift tripped up. Everyone that has a vive did so because they did their research. there was no big marketing blitz, there was no gear. There was none of the “we made vr” bs – when in reality valve held their hand at major points. We got the vive because IT MADE MORE SENSE.

            You move the goal post to suit your argument – or lack thereof. no amount of reasoning, demonstration, anecdotal information, reviews, first hand experience etc. will sway you because you defend the rift like it is religion. You dont present rational arguments and level with people – you just spew bs. you are a blow hard.

          • Yup. Oculus screwed up. I think they will continue to screw up until Zukerberg stops trying to Zuke up the whole world. It’s like if Apple computers came out and Bill Gates had bought them and tried to make his lack of vision work.

          • ummm…

            i dont think it is a facebook problem. i think it was a vision problem. They were banking on passive experiences like video consumption, social spaces, and seated games. The vive offered something else with better future proof tech – at least 18 month proof – and the had to scramble . They bought their own marketing and were caught out. I could be wrong, but from all the information i read and my own sensibilities show me that strategically and technologically they were not prepared for vive – and thought they were going to be the sole premium headset. They quickly found out at seated experiences ONLY were not the way to go.

            I’m not happy about it. But i am happy in that in april i read about the vive and made what was for me a correct decision.

          • We own Rifts because at the time it seemed the best in DK2 years. But, we also bought a Vive thank God or we would have had no touch experience in VR. Frankly, Oculus almost screwed our business plans up because of that alone.

          • ummm…

            so you are invested in vr? you are a dev? Oculus did own the vr landscape for many years with their dev kits. That was a great move by oculus. They deserve enormous credit. When they went consumer they thought they could just live off of those kits with small improvements. Turns out their tech and strategy was wrong when the free market came into play. I hope for oculus that they turn it around next time around. However, there are so many things needed to improve from the developer outreach, the fracturing of their hardware options, their store, the roomscale solution etc. etc. We dont want a vive clone, but we want the reliability and usability of the vive. I’d dare say that if oculus got the tech right, then the devs would come – and the walled garden would be forgiven. right now there are too many things not exactly right – and it is NOT going unnoticed.

          • popupblocker

            Elegant? Really? I have both.

            Vive Clunky headset – front heavy with DK1 straps. plain not comfortable with heavy thick wire. and barely there audio solution.

            Vive has 5 Power packs! 5!!!! Oculus has zip. none. Nada

            OK – 2 are to charge the controllers. but whey didn’t they do that off the break-out box.. Oh yeah it has a freaking break out box.

            The vive solution has MOVING PARTS FFS. I agree it’s very accurate but if you set up the Rift correctly it works perfectly.

            And the Rift plays happily on Steam too.

            Elegant… the Vive is not.

        • DougP

          Because Oculus is late-to-game & ~9mos later has motion controllers, a fragmented base affecting game design (devs will need to focus on xbox1 controller & 180-degree/forward facing), isn’t as capable or easy to setup for room-scale, and cost more for near feature parity, Vive has vastly more titles & ~all of them work on every system (not xbox vs motion controller split) …. and yet it would surprise Mario if HTC still leads?!
          Wow!!

          • ummm…

            hey ive got my vive and im very happy. we can say what you’ve said, and more, about the “advantage” that we see with the vive. however, we will always be tarred as fanboys. i for one looked at both before i made my purchase. its not an accident that ive bought a vive last april. however, i was curious as to what a rifter would say about the “long term” strategy. I see no strategy beyond offering polished seated experiences and standing room experiences. These are not experiences, but not what i think VR is about. anyway, we better break this up or we are going to be called fanboys.

            I just cant wrap my head around why one would buy an oculus over a vive. There really aren’t enough good reasons, for me.

          • Get Schwifty!

            And you do realize there are many people who looked at both and made a different decision with all the same facts? Don’t pat yourself on the back too much about owning a Vive, it’s not a sign of intelligence, just one of putting emphasis in certain areas over others which comes down to personal priorities.

            The strategy is not just wrapped around “PC Gamers”, if you bothered to read much about Oculus in reality you would know this. They want to be at the forefront of VR to leverage its interest as a natural stepping stone in social media. Hence the Gear and Rift both along with software initiatives and focus on VR in general.

            Reasons to buy a Rift (which you won’t agree with) are:

            – Better and more ergonomic controllers; the wands work but are not ideal
            – A more ergonomic headset with less apparent SDE (brightness is fine and contributes to less eyestrain)
            – A robust software library AND access to everything else
            – A long term view of VR that makes sense, i.e. that camera tracking will ultimately edge out Lighthouse style systems which don’t really scale or offer other advantages
            – A focus on VR that extends well beyond gaming which means development over time
            – An understanding that not everyone wants room-scale all the time and other development is warranted
            – And I would add its a more mobile system (see my post below as the vast majority of Vive owners permanently mount their Lighthouse units)

            From a Rift owners view the only advantage Vive offers is a *slightly* better tracking, slightly more area for “room scale” and no camera cables. That’s it. Everything else is equal or worse. Even the upcoming wireless HMD adapter is likely to be used with the Rift, or they will develop their own.

          • ummm…

            i read about both. your rhetorical style is ridiculous.

            – wants are fine depending upon context. golf, baseball, etc etc. additionally – you are over emphasizing the downsides of the wands, over emphasizing the positivies of the touch. ill give it to oculus. its a nice design. thats why vive is already developing a new controller that allows OPEN HAND GAMEPLAY. who knows if a third party developer – who htc and valve have welcomed in to create peripherals – may have one out sooner. just like the WIRELESS adapter we are about to have in a few weeks
            – I dunno what you mean by ergonomic headset. i love the distance toggle on my vive. the bad are really nice and soft on my face. there is no light bleed at the nose. i can dim the display if id like to. i also have leather covers for my pads. its like leather couches for my face.
            – wowowowoowow. i can’t believe you are still sticking to this cameras are better idea. it is absolutely astounding. absolutely astounding. it shows how intellectually rigid and biased you are. i wont even explain this to you. enjoy your conical tracking volume, along with distance issues, along with wired cameras, along with having to spend more to buy another “experimental” camera, or two, for your “roomscale”
            – focus on development? ask devs who they want. look at the steam store – who has more open development? what about htc investing MILLIONS of dollars into open and competitive vive studioes etc. Let facebook keep making seated and 180 degree experiences. they have some nice polish – hope you like your glossy menus.
            – I know I know, you dont want roomscale. return your touch – you paid too much for them anyway. btw the vive does seated, standing AND roomscale. your argument is obnoxious every time you make it.
            – Yes so much more mobile. make sure to bring you 4 cameras, touch, headset, xbox controller, computer etc etc. Oh, thats right you have a couple of gram advantage on the headset.

            You either attempt to bait us in, insult us, or are completely unaware of the stupidity of your arguments when you come here and say the things you do.

            enjoy your rift my friend. You keep trying to justify it – and ill keep directing you towards real world facts. If you fairer with your arguments – and more rational – i bet we could agree on some things. but since you show up with only absolute poop you get this response. dont you get enough abuse?

          • TheVillasurfer

            No he actually makes some really good and valid points. I don’t know whether camera-tracking will edge the Lighthouse system or not, but I agree with most other points made.

            Both headsets are great. Adding everything up, there’s nothing major that puts one ahead of the other.

            In my opinon, it’s you that sounded ‘ridiculous’ in your response to ‘Get Schwifty’. Why are you SO anti-Rift? Why do you even care so much? It’s……..silly.

            And after reading the millions of comments on here, I now realise this is an old conversation! Still, I hope you take note of my words. I only get defensive when I hear BS being spoken about the Rift, usually with aggression and anti-Rift, anti-Oculus or anti-FB (fair enough! Haha) tones.

          • ummm…

            I stopped reading after you said “I dont know whether camera-tracking will edge the Lighthouse……..” Your opinion is not really something I can trust as I, and many others, have done the research and it is PRETTY FREAKING CLEAR.

          • TheVillasurfer

            Nice….You come across very childish, for someone who clearly isn’t a child.

            You should read my comment before replying, since you don’t know what you’re replying about if you don’t read it.

            You do a lot of “I didn’t read this” etc, before posting a comment, don’t you.

            I’m just here to have conversations about something I’m passionate about: VR. It’s hard to do this with somebody who refuses to do so maturely and without enormous bias.

            Sad.

          • ummm…

            you must be right. my bad.

          • avrame

            Why do you say that camera tracking will edge out Lighthouse? I thought Lighthouse was more scale-able than camera tracking.

          • Positive, it’s lighter in weight. Negative, tracking sucks and only a few games support touch. Why didn’t Oculus help these other companies add support for touch? Anyway, Rift logic reminds me of my parents trying to make decisions about technology. They get it wrong most of the time.

          • ummm…

            im not sure oculus gets to use logic now. they are just playing catch up. they are on the defensive and reacting to vives moves. They just need to get the tech right in gen 2. Its going to be a long couple of years for them tho. My feeling is that they may double down on their game development and try to take it there. I hope they can capitalize on full control of their store, because that is their only “strong point” paradoxically, as many people would consider that a weakness too.

          • TheVillasurfer

            As I keep saying, I use x2 Oculus sensors corner-to-corner and I don’t have issues. It works brilliantly. I also keep hearing that the Rift is more expensive but it’s not! It is IF you buy a 3rd or 4th sensor but I’ve no need whatsoever because it works beautifully.
            So Rift does have “roomscale” and is not just for seated or standing experiences. I’ve a large room and I freely walk around the entire space, interacting through my touch controllers with no issues.

            I’m really fed up of hearing otherwise. All you hear from some (seemingly anti-Oculus, but I’d like to think not) users on this site is stories of how their friends have had an issue using 2 or 3 sensors, and how Rift doesn’t allow for “roomscale” experiences. If you tried mine you’d see that I experience no issues with 2 sensors and it’s definitely roomscale!

            Also, people say that there aren’t enough games out for the Rift. Are you kidding me?! There’s everything in the Oculus Home, there are loads of compatible VR titles in Steam, and of course all of the indie apps and other experiences built outside of Oculus or Valve stores. How many apps do you want and how many lives do you intend to live in order to find enough time to do try them all?!

          • Mario-Galouzeau de Bocsa

            You know what else fragments market ? Walls ! Let’s live in the street, you can have all roomscale you want. I have 2X2m max to dedicate to VR, it’s obvious HTC won’t develop any game that is optimized for my play area, I chose platform that offers a majority of games I can actually enjoy 100%.
            Early adopters vastely exagerate enthousiasm over roomscale.

          • Get Schwifty!

            Very true…. this point is often overlooked, that not everyone can or wants room scale, but its adherents who are into it see it as the “defining” VR experience and presume therefore they represent the “real” market and everyone else thinks the way they do, despite market evidence to the contrary.

            Now, before I sound hostile to room-scale, quite the opposite, I fully appreciate it and desire it, but the best I can manage in my condo is about a 5′ x 5′ area, and already I have had to pass by one or two games which want more. Fragmentation? Sure sounds like it. If we take the Fragmentation Bogeyman out to play, one could make a very convincing argument that room-scale is perhaps THE key contributor to fragmentation, creating games that only a minority can actually play, drawing development away from front facing/rug-scale 360′ experiences.

          • DougP

            Re: ” it’s obvious HTC won’t develop any game that is optimized for my play area”

            I can’t tell if you’re joking or woefully ignorant.
            You do realize that Vive’s 5mx5m is a maximum, right? Not a minimum?
            It just means it has a wider range it can support than the Rift.

            Roomscale –
            So even if your room is 2x2m, you’re still better off. Better tracking…& …imagine this, some day you put the Vive in a larger room!
            As well, with Oculus focused on front-facing, seated, 180-degree, you’re not going to have as many room-scale games “you can actually enjoy” in your 2x2m … as a great many games (FB exclusives) will NOT be designed for room-scale, else they’d alienate their user base who doesn’t have: 1) room-scale 2) enough cameras.
            If you want standing/turning/motion controls & the best room-scale (any size), you’re better off with the Vive.

            I don’t think you understand what fragmented means in this context ( “Walls!” – wtf? ).

          • Yes. I believe with IPFS adding a layer for VR we could see the web destroying the walls as small minded thinkers try to maintain an early stage ecosystem. I saw the web destroy a lot of businesses in the early and late 1990’s and I’m watching this industry make the same mistakes.

          • burzum

            The roomscale setup with just two sensors was a 5 minute thing and works just fine. I just had to buy two 5m USB cables. There is a road to VR video showing it working in a larger space than I have perfectly well with just two sensors next to the computer. And you have to have that much space available in your room. I don’t think the most people have enough space or are willing to clear a whole room just to get “roomscale”. Guess 2x2m is the most for the majority. Maybe it’s different in the US and countryside but in cities, where room is expensive, you don’t have the money for a dedicated “VR room” except you’re earning good money. While I think that 360° is important (and works with the Rift) I don’t think that roomscale is the primary way or majority of how VR will be enjoyed by the masses. Ocolus has other problems than roomscale, IMHO mostly their proprietary approach which I really dislike and mostly for that reason, not the tale of “lack of roomscale”, I’ll probably buy a HMD from another vendor when the 2nd generation becomes available.

      • JustNiz

        Steam is already by far the dominant provider of games on the PC. Just adding VR to that was an natural/relatively easy step for Valve. Oculus had one chance and they blew it. Iribe fucked Oculus badly with the clueless proprietary API and walled garden decision. There’s no freaking way Oculus can come out of nowhere with their own crappy locked-in storefront and compete with Steam, especially one that naively presumes that no-one will be smart enough to notice its always spying on you. Unless whoever comes next reverses that “screw your own customers” mindset quickly (and in fact its probably already too late) Oculus is destined to become the Betamax of VR. It turns out that roomscale is IMPORTANT in VR, which Iribe/Luckey/Oculus also badly underestimated. Touch was seen as addressing that shortcoming for Rift, but it really still doesn’t compare favorably with Vive’s tracking technology. Oculus roomscale is more inconvenient to set up (ideally 3 cameras so 3 usb leads going to your PC, assuming you have that many free ports), Oculus tracking is slightly worse in latency and accuracy, and only supports a smaller roomscale area than Vive, and unlike Vive is also an add-on so not even necessarily supported by Rift games. Rift does have a couple of small positive differentiators most notably a slightly lighter headset so somewhat more comfortable, but that can’t outweigh the Rift’s many downsides compared to Vive, such as worse godrays, slightly smaller fov, slightly dimmer panels, light coming in around nose etc. Rift used to have a price advantage over Vive but if you factor in Touch, its actually the same or even slightly more expensive than the Vive.

        • Mario-Galouzeau de Bocsa

          I am sensing agressivit and denial. I am much more confident in what future holds. None of us have crystal ball though. Time will tell.

        • Get Schwifty!

          So… you make the point I have been saying all along, why Oculus had to go the exclusives route, that Valve and HTC are in bed with each other but for some reason Oculus should have trusted them to help promote their product? Oculus home makes all the sense in the world to help promote and differentiate the product line.

          The API’s are also reported by devs to be basically the same, not sure what you are referring to there.

          Oculus home isn’t about competing with Steam, you misunderstand grasshopper. It is about channeling interest, while still offering up all that Steam has. Many possible buyers over time have little or no experience with Steam, Oculus home is also there to help people new to VR find content easily rather than hassling with Vive. It’s hard to believe but not everyone is a rabid PC gamer out there.

          Room-scale is importance is overstated except to those who seem to put a premium on it. This likely isn’t the broad market but enthusiastic early adopters at this stage. And this from someone who likes the idea but realizes its not for everyone.

          If you think plugging in three or four USB ports is difficult setup I feel for you, it’s about 20 seconds of effort. From someone with a Vive talking about it, how is life with that chunky-ass cable hanging off in the floor all the time?

          The room scale difference is about a foot on a side… are you saying a 10’x10′ area for room scale is poor? Really?

          The FOV difference is a joke, they are both rated at 110 degrees, if its any difference no one will detect it. The “dimmer” light panels actually have the effect of reducing eye strain over time, I assure they are more than sufficient.

          The light around the nose is also a joke; you don’t notice it, and frankly its damn handy at times. It also makes airflow better through the HMD which helps keep the lenses from fogging over as easily as Vive in heated play. If really bothers you its easily cover up; I like having it frankly.

          With Touch the price is the same, the only difference is $79 for room scale, but you also get a game pad (for now) which makes the real cost effective difference a cant $18 more if you factor out the pad costs at $50 USD.

          • JustNiz

            Your whole argument is ridiculous.
            >> The API’s are also reported by devs to be basically the same, not sure what you are referring to there.
            You’ve been misinformed. I’m a software developer and I can tell you that the APIs are nothing like each other.
            Your argument that Oculus Home exists so people can find content easily makes no sense. Steam is already so ubiquitous it is pretty much the standard, and is already incredibly easy to use even for newbies. Anyone that hasn’t enough brains to simply figure out to check a game runs with the hardware they have needs far more help than Oculus Home could ever give them.
            You say that not everyone out there is a gamer, fair enough, but people that haven’t the first clue about gaming also wouldn’t be spending that much money buying a PC VR headset or installing Oculus Home. As for Oculus Home “channelling interest by offering up all that Steam has” Is right out of the marketing bullshitspeak playbook.
            That fact that you think roomscale is overstated puts you at complete odds with the entire VR industry, and also shows how much of a rabid Oculus fanboi you really are.

            “The room scale difference is about a foot on a side… are you saying a 10’x10′ area for room scale is poor? Really?”
            Poor? no. Just not as good as the Vive’s.

            “If you think plugging in three or four USB ports is difficult setup I feel for you,”
            What about if your PC doesn’t have that many free ports? Now you have the extra expense and inconveninece to go and buy a port extender. Even if you do, then now you have 3 or 4 more cables running round the room/across your play area to your PC. Clearly you are such a fanboi that you are choosing to live in denial about the inconvenience.

          • popupblocker

            You lost all credibility with the use of the non-word ‘fanboi’

            You know the Vive has 5 POWER PACKS right? Rift has none. Nor a break out box, nor thick heavy cables. Plus the ability to run any vr app you want… unlike vive that HAS to go thought the store.

            Roomscale is overstated. I have a big house and still only 2m x 2m I can use in my office. with clear space.

            I have both. Bar the camera the Rift is a far easier setup and much more stable and easily the best controllers on the market. I am infact now going to sell my vive as it’s obsolete.

          • JustNiz

            >> You lost all credibility with the use of the non-word ‘fanboi’
            Sorry was that too close to home for you?

            >> You know the Vive has 5 POWER PACKS right?
            So what? you know you dont use all 5 at once right?

            >> Roomscale is overstated. I have a big house and still only 2m x 2m I can use in my office. with clear space.
            ..so because you personally don’t have the space it therefore must be a crap feature for everyone? right…

        • popupblocker

          Wow you are nuts buddy. You know steam is a locked in store right? A shitty one you have to beg to sell on.

          As opposed to the 3 Power packs of the vive?

          What proprietary API you can build a rift game and launch it yourself – don’t need the oculus store at all. Hell you could make your own storefront.

          Unlike the Vive which only runs on Steam or Viveport. you cannot make outside games.

          • JustNiz

            Keep drinking the oculus koolaid there fanboi. Of course you can make outside games for the Vive, also that run on multiple platforms, Because it uses OpenVR, Its actually Oculus that uses a closed proprietary APK that only runs on Windows. In fact SteamVR also supports Oculus. Show me Vive support in Oculus’s API. No? thought not.

      • Get Schwifty!

        HTC is leading in overall sales currently and likely will for some time but people have forgotten an article by R2VR which showed an upward curve in Rift sales and a flattening in Vive). You are very correct in seeing that it’s not going to be a 2016-2107 race, it will be an industry with more than just Vive (thank God). If Oculus hadn’t put out Touch it’s a good bet that their work on the other controllers would have taken another couple years to get a focus.

        Never before have I seen such a drastic difference harped on about theoretical differences vs. real world as I have with this Lighthouse vs. Constellation tracking meme.

        In about 10+ hours of play so far with Dead and Buried, Valve’s Lab demo, Job Simulator, the Touch demo (forget the name), Nvidia’s Funhouse, The Climb and SuperHot the only time I have had tracking issues with two cameras alone is if I turn with them fully blocked to the cameras (imagine that), and only once did tracking get off during a turn that my left controller-hand weirded out and flew off for a moment. All other tracking issues like close to the ground only happened if I stepped too close to the cameras or at first when I had the cameras poorly placed to catch the edge of my book cases. Of the issues the only one I can honestly say I think Lighthouse might have performed better as the one left-hand issue, which I strongly suspect is a bug in their software at the moment.

        • end_terror_now

          Good to hear, my touch should be here tomorrow and I can’t wait! What a terrific pre-order bundle. Don’t really understand why all the hate on the Rift. I tried both before I purchased and decided on it because of several reasons, my space is only 5′ by 7′, I felt the rift was more comfortable, and I didn’t really care for the vive wands. But it’s all nit picky really, I mean both sets offer the best VR has at the moment.

      • Pistol Pete

        Haha. You must work at Oculus.

      • CoffeeBuzz

        After seeing the Oculus limited range tracking and “loose tracking” videos and reviews I cannot see how Vive would not be dominating.. Not to mention you have to use up to 3 cameras wired to the PC with the rift.

        • Mario-Galouzeau de Bocsa

          Hey I never said Vive isn’t the best tracking solution in your castle but that’s my point : most people won’t care.
          For a 3X3m space or even little more with tracking loss, I demand link. In the meantime here’s 1 for you.
          http://www.roadtovr.com/watch-us-test-oculus-touch-tracking-room-scale-tracking-to-the-limits/
          That’s more space than me or 90pct of potential buyers will ever dedicate to VR.
          It’s kind of like having a Land Rover when you live in town : you can brag about being able to go off road, when all you need is go from A to B on the road 364 day per year. Some ppl like to brag though.

    • Get Schwifty!

      You do realize all we are talking about in the market is scant quarter million or so of people for both Vive and Rift combined? The game hasn’t even begun yet, it’s just opening moves. I do think they made a significant strategic error in not offering the Touch up front. I get the idea of the impact they were planning, and having a solid body of software, but it would have been better to have released them along with the Rift and ditched the game pad. That doesn’t mean I think they shouldn’t provide some support for game pad based games, but it’s a perception thing, at least among the early adopters which is all this year was about.

      • Octogod

        You just outlined how they’ve stumbled.

        It could 10 million or 100,000 units sold, the fact is Rift is playing catch up.

    • nebošlo

      You have no basis to determine even what the market size is, nevermind who leads over who. Just stop.

    • Andrew Jakobs

      as there haven’t been real numbers out there, there is no saying who the actual marketleader is.

  • Firestorm185

    Glad to hear that Iribe isn’t leaving Oculus entirely! He’ll be a good asset to have working on the PC side.

  • DougP

    Re: “Palmer Luckey to Shuffle Too”

    Perhaps Trump cabinet appointment?!
    Newly created “Secretary of Shit-Posting”. ;)

    • CURTROCK

      Omfg! That is too funny….lmao :)

    • dogtato

      So, White House Communications Director?

      • popupblocker

        Trump is taking that job too as he basically is a petulant 14 year old girl with ego issues.

        Actually he is a just a complete twat.

  • Alexander Hogan

    It’s hard not to see this as him being demoted, which is strange because the touch launch went about as well as one could hope.

    EDIT: Wording, grammar.

    • Get Schwifty!

      To an outsider this would seem likely, and it could be, but being inside companies I can also tell you that after a major launch there is a gap and people begin moving around. It’s very possible he transitioned as CEO to a more business role and simply preferred the tech route, it happens a lot in the tech world. If he is considered to have poor decision making about strategies that doesn’t mean he isn’t better suited to leading VR on the PC side of the house.

  • VR Geek

    I saw the writing on the wall. There are a few Oculus Execs that dug their heel in a little to hard tying to tell us room scale does not matter, that forward facing is the way to go, and that an Xbox controller made sense. Those are pretty major goofs and the fact that they stuck to their message, really really really underscored for me, that Oculus went corporate and utterly lost their souls. I despise how they stuck to the message when it was so clearly wrong wrong wrong. I hope they dropped Jason Rubin as he was the most used car salesperson of them all when he spread the BS. I know they had little choice, as they were behind the 8 ball, but there were plenty of other roads one could have gone down. I LOVED Oculus, until the CV1. I will be very surprised if they become the top 5 players by 2020 as even when they address their issues, they will be in a sea of competitors and we all know there are a few big ones still looking at entering the market. Good bye Oculus and thanks for the killer DK1 and DK2!

    • Get Schwifty!

      LOL they never “lied” that room scale didn’t matter, they said their own market research doesn’t show it as a leading format for the majority of buyers and that is very believable and in fact may well turn out to be true as we move beyond the early adopter crowd.. If you think HTC and Valve aren’t “corporate” you must be pretty naive about the business world.

      Your predictions IMNSHO are laughable, do you really think that Oculus isn’t still a primary player even in 2020? Especially when one considers the statements about Facebook about being committed to VR if for no other reason than it’s desire to entrench itself in VR social media?

      I’ll predict a few things; FB/Oculus actually “gets” the broad market better than HTC (and most early adopters); HTC is good at marketing hardware but thats about it and is successful in reaching early adopters in the short term,but they don’t seem to have a real strategy for leveraging VR much beyond small scale at this stage. Both will be major players, quite possibly with Oculus edging out HTC with the general public and while maybe playing a close #2 to HTC before possibly overtaking them as social media and gaming edge closer. If as they have stated camera tech (already effective) continues to improve and begins being used to draw the user and/or environment in, HTC will have to adapt and go the same route. They are counting on an early name recognition to carry them forward because they understand momentum means something, but they know its no guarantee in the long term.

      Dislike of FB/Oculus is one thing, but some of these sentiments like this are just out of left field.

      • I like what Disney said when he was asked why he was risking his fortune on DisneyLand. He did no marketing research. He said that if he would want it so would a lot of other people. Common sense rules.

        • PrymeFactor

          Thousands of others have started businesses on the exact same sentiments and lost everything…some ending in jail, at the end of a swinging rope or pistol barrel to the temple.

    • Yah, I remember that. I figured they must have started smoking some good weed and lost track of reality. It was sad and yet fun to watch considering how bright I thought they were at the time.

    • CURTROCK

      Good bye Oculus? Really? Come on, man…it ain’t gonna go down like that. You can prefer the VIVE to RIFT, but to count Oculus out at this stage, is unrealistic at best.

  • Lucky shouldn’t “Shy” away from anything. There is no “Community Outrage” about his politics.

    A tiny… VERY VERY TINY, minority of left-wing haters tried to flood the internet against him. It’s the same VERY VERY TINY minority who’s vile sh*t postings, mixed with their insignificant numbers, helped to bury the Democratic party this year. Loud, childish, nasty zealots who’s tasteless, hate-filled comments turned off SO MANY PEOPLE that, for the first time in DECADES, Republicans swept the Presidency, The House, The Senate, and most State Offices. (Way to shoot yourself in the foot, guys!)

    I don’t think any VERY VERY TINY group of people has ever represent *ANY* community. The only thing the “Community” has against Lucky is selling to Facebook, and Facebook’s crooked deals with these “exclusive” timed titles they bought up. THAT has offended the community, not politics.

    • Get Schwifty!

      Most people don’t give two sh*ts about Palmer, but devs tend to be a politically charged group and they were all-a-chatter about it. Guilt by association is such an easy way to smear people. Effectively he (as many people with money do) gave money to a cause; that doesn’t mean he agrees with every attitude or further thing they do but then he is guilty. Ironically this seems to be one-sided; no one went after Obama for instance after it came out about some of the openly communist people he first tried to put in. Suddenly everyone is entitled to an opinion of their own ;)

      You are correct about the exclusives I think, at least in terms of the impact they have had on Vive owners (and a few Rift owners).

    • NeoTechni

      Agreed.

  • CURTROCK

    I would like to take this opportunity to use this most public of VR forums to state my gratitude to both Brendan Iribe & Palmer Luckey. The emergence of consumer VR was made possible through the efforts of many, however these 2 people have been the tip of the spear. Their contributions to this paradigm shift in immersive tech cannot be overstated. I wish them both continued success. Bravo, gentleman.

    • True, me too. In spite of my ceaseless bashing of them I am so grateful for JOHN CARMACK for fixing and making the Rift actually work and then redesigning a game to show the tech. John seems to have vanished from history here. Palmer would still be unknown if it hadn’t been for him.

  • Russell Cooley

    Who cares this happens all the time, CEO is possibly the most boring job to have anyway and Palmer is probably done with it as well, I would be. Oculus is just another multinational games company now. You guys need to loose this “its our local band mentality” its quite embarrassing

  • wowgivemeabreak

    I like this if it means both divisions will get a boost since they will have dedicated people working on them.

    Hopefully Palmer isn’t relegated to the basement simply because some liberal snowflakes (mostly of the millennial variety) got butt hurt over him having a different opinion than them. Must be that tolerance from many liberals I keep hearing them go on about which of course reality doesn’t back up one bit but hey, who cares about reality when you are part of the liberal ideology (*cough* cult *cough*) and live in a fantasy world where everything you think and do is right and everyone who has a differing view is wrong and a bigot.

  • Pistol Pete

    I hope Oculus will change their tactics on PC. I would like to buy their products again.

  • JN

    I am hoping these management moves will improve Oculus. Right now I consider them the most difficult company to have any interaction with. My company is using Rifts in B2B applications. I can not find ANY person at Occulus to discuss ANY aspect of this, including finding where to buy Rifts other than Amazon.

    Even though our current Rift needs are low, our clients are some of the largest mulit-national companies. it would be nice to work with Oculus to get them to understand the potential of using VR in their marketing. Alas, can’t find anyone who gives a damn

  • PrymeFactor

    This place is overrun with fanboys. Sadly, as on Reddit, the vast majority of them are Vive owners.

    How pathetic.

  • Dev.

    Palmer should be CEO