Oculus Backers Demand Their Money Back

Oculus VR's sale to social media megalith Facebook for $2 billion--which was completed in less than 72 hours--has led to a backlash from the company's Kickstarter backers, who feel betrayed and are looking for their piece of the pie.

[Doge]

Wow. What a bunch of self-entitled losers.

You helped KICKSTART a company and its project 2 years ago, got whatever gift they offered for your pledge, and now you're angry and want your money back?

What's next? Are Ouya backers gonna expect a free Ouya 2 if the company ever releases it?

[-Foxtrot]

You have to admit though they didn't know there money was going to help it be funded just so they could sell it for a LOT of money....especially to Facebook.

They feel betrayed...

[MysticStrummer]

They feel betrayed because they're self entitled. I won't call them losers, but I will call them delusional.

Facebook is definitely the source of their angst, but aren't all kickstarter projects meant to be eventually sold for a profit in one way or another?

[SilentNegotiator]

The project might not even have existed if not for the Kickstarter. Backers can either cry that the inevitable happened (Oculus being bought by a bigger company) or they can just be happy that the thing will probably launch before "ummm, eventually" now and that the Oculus even exists thanks to their Kickstarter backing.

Their intention was ALWAYS to make a profit on the Rift, people. You preordered a VR helmet, you did not buy stock in a company.

[SecondSon]

I wish Kickstarter allowed us to buy stock in the companies.

[lizard81288]

True, but I guess they'll have to deal with it. KS even gives warnings. I've backed projects that got funded and then failed, thus, losing all of my money I backed towards them. Atleast this was funded and i'm sure they'll get their backing rewards.

[360ICE]

That's half the point with Kickstarter. Not sure if anyone know this, even though all developers pretty much say it right off the bat, but Kickstarter is often used as proof to investors that the product is popular.

People are absolutely free to feel betrayed, but have no right to get their money back. Sure, it can be upsetting that Facebook of all companies picked them up, but if they didn't expect Oculus to be picked up by an investor they should try this new thing the kids are doing called reading.

[Neonridr]

Totally agree, the vast majority of the original backers were at the level to get the developers kit. Which they received. So now they feel like they should get something more because the company grew beyond their own expectations and a larger company wanted to snatch them up?

Too funny.

[admiralvic]

"So now they feel like they should get something more because the company grew beyond their own expectations and a larger company wanted to snatch them up? "

Funny, thats not the impression I got from the complaints (not even the ones in this article give me that impression). As near as I can tell, people funded the idea because they liked the concept and wanted to see it grow into something really cool. However, now that Facebook owns it, people feel that vision is compromised and feel ripped off.

While I do agree they don't have much legal ground to stand on, I also feel events like this will lead to Kickstarters death. A lot of people have entered these things with good faith, which is sometimes rewarded (Skullgirls via Indiegogo), but it seems quite often that people have been burned and for that reason people will start to distrust everyone and a lot of cool ideas will be ruined by a few companies screwing up.

[aliengmr]

Yes, Kickstarter kick-started a gimmick that now has a shot at revolutionizing not ONLY games but media itself.

Damn them! Death to Kickstarter!! for doing exactly what its supposed to do.

If you decide to put your project on Kickstarter just make sure to NOT expand on your vision in any way. You don't want to upset the folks who have a knee jerk reaction.

[papashango]

I'm not of the opinion that the crowd funders should get refunded because they got their dev kit as promised.

But I'm disappointed that the consumer level tech that was created is now in a corporations hands that make their money through advertising. If they change their vision on what Occulus should be and it fails they will simply sit on those patents.

Meaning those dreams we all had when we were kids and VR gaming would be delayed who knows how many years. I won't bring up Morpheus because Sony has a history of not supporting their peripherals after they launch.

At a non-gaming consumer level I can see how it's easy to not care but since we are on a gaming website we should be looking at it from a gaming viewpoint.

But this will definitely have an effect on future kickstarts. My stance on this is to wait and see what Zuckerbergs roadmap is.

[aliengmr]

@papashango

"But I'm disappointed that the consumer level tech that was created is now in a corporations hands that make their money through advertising. If they change their vision on what Occulus should be and it fails they will simply sit on those patents."

1. The CV1 has not been created yet and the only market willing to buy it is gamers.

2. Facebook uses Ads to make money because until now, that's the ONLY product they had to sell, Ad space. They can now sell an actual device the Rift. This is a long term investment for FB, not something they intend to make a quick buck on. VR is still a gimmick after all, one wrong move and money wasted.

3. The actual patent is pretty vague from what I hear and is not actually a cause for concern.

As for the rest...

The original plan is unchanged according to OVR and FB. The non-gaming community largely does NOT care about the Rift and so aren't a market yet. Gamers are a market, and the only market that will buy the Rift. VR gaming is alive and well.

A Kickstarter success story isn't going to kill Kickstarter, it may weed out those unable to grasp the concept or tend to overreact.

[papashango]

So were you trying to make a point?

or just playing armchair analyst?

[Muerte2494]

The problem lies in if Facebook will continue to make Oculus Rift for games or something else. That was the main purpose for people, originally, investing in their Kickstarter. Feelings "self-entitled" usually means you're demanding something for nothing or feel privileged. That's not the case this time. People felt like they've been dupped, and rightfully so. But these are the risks you take when you back someone's vision. Now you know why investors are so worried about profits. Picture investing millions into something. Investors only get to option to back out but they can't get a refund on it.

[aliengmr]

Wasn't aware the Rift was only capable of one thing.

Show me the market for "social VR". There might be one in the future, but where are all the FB users saying " Boy, the only thing that would make using Facebook better, is strapping something to my head!"

The Rift isn't very mobile either.

Seriously, consider who is ready right now to buy a Rift, then you'll know their direction.

[ZombieGamerMan]

How where they duped? They donated money for the development of VR technology and that is what their donations made. All that has happened is the company was approached and reached an agreement to be bought up facebook.

So no one got duped, the money went to be used for what they thought it would and they got popular and now a major company wants to acquire them. They don't have much of a right to be pissed not yet at least if FB decides to not use the OR for gaming then people should be pissed

[fattyuk]

They invested in this project to get it started? They should be happy to say "we helped this project"

If Facebook had bought it for $500,000 I bet none of them would be complaining! They see the $2 billion everywhere and they want a piece of that pie!!

They can still use there oculus as they did 2 weeks ago? What's changed? Oh yeah they want "compensation" hint hint - a nice cheque, they want there "share" of the "profits"

[porkChop]

The complaints have nothing to do with making money off of the deal. The complaints are about the fact that people invested in a vision that they wanted to support, and now that vision is being changed. Backers feel cheated, and they have every right to be.

FB and Palmer Luckey say that the vision for Oculus hasn't changed, and then 2 seconds later they talk about how their going to make Oculus and VR much more social. What part of the original vision that backers invested in had anything to do with making VR social?

Instead of generalizing the complaints, try actually reading into WHY people are upset.

[gintoki777]

I can't wait to use oculus rift for facebook. I want to be able to interact with my friends through a virtual reality device and be surrounded by a wall where I can see everyone posts.

There will now be full 3d body profiles instead of profile pics lmao

they technically are stakeholders if they invested in it so they do have a say. But shit happens

[gintoki777]

that makes sense @soldierone) They should actually invest in a company instead of donating.

[Ashlen]

Well, this is why Kickstarter is a scam.

There was a way to invest in companies and help them get off the ground before Kickstarter. It was called buying stock. And the whole point was if the company did well the value of the stock increased and all the investors make money.

Kickstarter is a scam to get people to take all the risk with basically zero reward. While the the holders of said project get all the rewards with zero risk.

[ShowGun901]

THIS IS ABSOLUTELY CORRECT!

people need to wake up, instead of accepting a dev kit for their money... its like the old adage about the guy who sold his apple stock for 5 grand, now he'd be a millionare... imagine if you wanted stock instead of a dev kit... or the reverse, imagine if that guy who invested in apple wanted an ipad instead of stock...

[rainslacker]

Totally true in every way. There are serious people on KickStarter that do everything possible to deliver what their backers pay for, or more. Unfortunately there are just as many, if not more, that realize it's the best way to make money off promises that don't even have to materialize. In the investor's world, you can get in serious trouble for squandering investors money. With Kickstarter the terms of service actually stipulate that the backers have no recourse whatsoever.

I really believe a project like OR had enough big backers within the industry, that they could have formed a more traditional company and gotten big investors the old fashioned way(which they did as well, who got paid from this sell-off).

I understand the people who backed them on Kickstarter brought into the idea, but the only real promise they got was a devkit, which they did deliver from my understanding. Overall though, I think that some of the backlash may be a bit pre-mature as there is still a big market for the gaming market despite the new social aspect being placed on it.

[Audiggity]

"Kickstarter is a scam to get people to take all the risk with basically zero reward."

How is that even remotely accurate? There is risk associate with the project creators, they have to deliver. The contribution amount aligns directly with a reward tier that must be delivered upon, if not, it's no different than theft.

And the glory days of "buying stock" to help companies get off the ground are LONG gone. An IPO occurs when companies are extremely well established and have completed financial valuations/SEC filings. The wild west days of investing in a start-up don't exist. No intermediary company can publicly offer shares legally, without jumping through a massive series of legal/financial hoops.

Crowd funding is a legitimate way to reward people interested in your product/idea. If you want to invest in a company or a start-up, you need to buy shares or build a portfolio qualified to engage in IPO releases.

[Thatguy-310]

without the kickstarter there wouldn't have been an oculus rift. It got started because people funded it and believe in the vision for GAMING. The fact that they think it was ok to sell it is a slap in the face to the people that support it for the vision they had at that time. I would be fuming too. especially if I don't get anything out of the 2 billion $ that they got for something that was funded by the public.

[ShowGun901]

as Ashlen said above... instead of accepting a damn dev-kit, they should have asked for STOCK... then they WOULD have gotten something outta the sale... as it stands, kickstarter is charity. if you give money to a homeless man, to turn his life around, you don't have the right to ask for it back (and more probably) once he does what you told him to do. they funded it to get it up and running. they KNEW from the start they weren't ENTITLED to anything else. they werent duped. they duped themselves.

bottom line, if you wanna invest, actually invest. in stocks. not charity.

[stuna1]

Exactly the makers of Ocolus Rift may have come up with the idea, but the moment they accepted monetary donation they at the very least had the responsibility of telling those who were involved in it being greenlit that a offer was on the table for it being sold to the highest bidder! People actually donated money for a purpose geared more to it being used in the gaming industry! Now that purpose is not as clear, considering FB is a Social Network.

[starchild]

I hate how some in the media report on these things. They make it sound like all Oculus Kickstarter backers feel the same way, when that is plainly not true.

I'm an Oculus Kickstarter backer and I don't feel betrayed. This is the best shot we realistically had at getting the Rift and VR to succeed.

How can we feel betrayed? When you fund a kickstarter project it doesn't mean that you get equity in the company. You are essentially donating your money in the hopes that the project will get off the ground. You usually get something in return, such as the DK1 Oculus Rift most backers got in this case.

So let's put this in perspective. Those of us that pledged $300 or more were given the DK1 and the hope that Oculus could get the product off the ground and eventually launch a superior consumer version with good software support. The first thing already happened: we got our dev kits. The second thing has not happened yet, but there is no evidence that it won't happen. Oculus is trying to get there the best way they know how, and I believe they are sincere.

Some people are jumping to absurd conclusions before they have all the facts and they are likely going to end up looking like idiots.

But you know what? Even if Oculus failed and was never able to launch the consumer Rift, it still wouldn't mean that backers would have a right to sue or get something else from the company.

When you fund a kickstarter project there is no guarantee that the product will come out and be everything that YOU personally think it should be. That's completely unrealistic and isn't how things work.

[Audiggity]

You are 100% correct. The underlying issue here is that people simply don't understand crowd-funding. They are equating it to equity funding and VC investments.

Crowd-funding is much more similar to a straight-up e-commerce transaction. There are explicit rules in place to prevent investments from even occurring.

This is just a fact. Not my opinion. Just because the majority of people may think "it is like an investment" or "it is like stock" or "it means you own part of the company", doesn't mean $hit. 80/20 rule folks. If you're part of the 80%, well, good luck!

[rashada07]

Agreed! Kickstarting is like investing in stocks- just because you invest doesn't mean you are guaranteed to be successful.. They should've expected and known the risks- tough luck...

[rainslacker]

About the only one of these comments from the article that made me feel any sympathy towards the backer was the one that didn't seem to want to back anything that Facebook was part of.

Whether a person has good reasons or not, the fact remains that some people do not support Facebook due to whatever reason.

Doesn't mean they had any real say in how OR proceeded so long as the kickstarter delivered on it's promises of a Dev1 Kit. But I can understand how a person would feel if something they were looking forward to got sold to a company that I truly disliked(not saying I dislike FB).

[HighResHero]

I would want my money back too. Hopefully you understand that other people have feelings that may differ from yours.

[awi5951]

They got paid 2 billion why would they care about their 2 million now lol.

[troylazlow]

this would be equivalent to giving a homeless person money on the street, and then being upset that they didn't spend your money the way you wanted them to.

once you hand that cash over (voluntarily) thats it end of transaction. you have no say in how it's spent

[DeathOfTheFanBoy]

What I will add (I agree with Doge) like it or not, the rift would have faded into utter obscurity once Sony released their own VR set, now at-least with the backing of FB tthey have a chance to maintain dominance in the VR market even if it's not solely game orientated.

But at the end of the day I really question if VR is actually commercially viable, sure as a hardcore gamer it would be awesome but WE are the minority and getting the casual consumer to buy such a product is a very hard sell IMO.

Good luck to all concerned parties.

[Angeljuice]

@Doge
I do agree with what you say, however it would have done wonders for Oculus, Facebook and the whole kickstarter concept if they'd given a little 'golden thank you' to the 'little people' who's faith and contributions created the company in the first place.
It wouldn't need to be much, just a little gift to show appreciation (maybe free future VR software, or a heavily subsidised/free upgrade to the final retail version of the hardware).

That kind of PR is priceless and would have quashed most of the resentment expressed on the internet.

[Soldierone]

According to Kickstarter rules they cannot get their money back. They fulfilled the rewards for one, but even if they couldn't do that Kickstarter states that some projects request too little money and have issues fulfilling rewards, so its a risk that backers take.

[danny818]

Kickstarter should have a rule for the project to be fulfilled and not sold off! Fuck these guys

[aliengmr]

That would be illegal or at the very least against the rules.

You aren't investing or even kickstarting a company, you kickstart projects.

As long as they provide the rewards promised, which they have, they have nothing to say.

Having a knee-jerk reaction is not cause for a refund.

[Soldierone]

You can do that. Go invest in a company instead of donating to it....

[ShowGun901]

kickstarter is a scam.

if you wanna invest, actually invest. not donate.

donations are CHARITY. given outta the kindness of your heart. doesn't mean they owe you anything. (other than the prize you agreed upon.)

[danny818]

I agree with all u guys but the most ethical thing to do was to atleast reward those who donated. I know it was a donation but still. They got 2 billion. Thats alot of money

[starchild]

Kickstarter isn't a scam, it works exactly the way it is stated to work and the way that most intelligent people understand it to work. Just because ignorant people don't pay attention and assume it to be something it isn't doesn't mean that there is a problem with it. I believe Kickstarter has its place.

I mean, we actually got this company off the ground, got some fabulous dev kits, and through further venture capital they were able to develop more advanced versions of the Rift and finally get the attention of an established successful company. As far as I'm concerned this is a success story.

A few thousand angry idiots on the internet can seem like an overwhelming majority even though in many cases they actually represent a tiny minority.

Facebook is trying to diversify just like all successful companies do once their growth has gone through the S-curve and is starting to slow or even decline. They tried the Rift and were amazed by it, so they decided they wanted to help bring it to its full potential and get in on the ground floor of a potentially revolutionary technology.

In order to maintain a leadership position in VR, though, they know that they have to give people the quality of VR experience they expect. They aren't going to require bothersome facebook sign-ins or slap ads in our faces while playing games because they know that to do so would cause people to drop the Rift like a rock.

Most of what comprises the Rift is not patentable technology. And it would be easy for other competitors to bring VR headsets of their own to market, similar to what we have recently seen from Sony. The only way Facebook/Oculus is going to stay ahead is if they are ACTUALLY ahead in the estimation of consumers.

Facebook isn't going to kill their one shot to be a dominant force in the emerging VR market by doing something stupid like having ads pop up in our VR experiences or dropping support for gaming. It amazes me that people are naive enough to believe these things would happen.

[secretcode]

Thing is, Kickstarter isn't an investment. Kickstarter is a donation. Investing and donating are two very different things.

[Joe913]

True and now that everyone knows you are putting your money into something so someone else can get rich will kill the whole kickstarter thing I don't know how I feel about this if you gave more than what a dev kit is worth then you got screwed but my thing is if you donate money to kickstart you kinda a founder of the company because there would be no company if not for your donations but it is a donation idk I would be happy with free products myself like if I donated then my name should be on a list and I should get the new version when it comes out if that was the case I could care less what they made off the sell as long as I got my product when they release a new one that way ppl do not feel screwed.

[Tempest317]

But would you donate money to anything if you knew they were going to recieve 2 billion dollars?

[XiNarutoUzumaki]

Never trust in Kickstaters ever again.

Ouya: Failure
Oculus: On the way to failure

[dcj0524]

So you have time travel powers? Please tell me. When can we read minds. I'm guessing 2030-50ish.

[Ju]

Fair or not...what it will lead to is the death of Kickstarter and with it the idea for a lot of smaller ideas to ever have a chance to come reality. That's a pity, really. Just shows how fragile this attempt really is.

[yewles1]

This was bound to happen, these backers wanted the company to succeed on their own, to be an independent driving force for HD VR in their own space. Now they feel the FB acquisition put all those efforts and hopes to waste.

I wonder how many of these backers were hardcore PC fans taken in by the gospel of John (Carmack)?...

[StrawberryDiesel420]

Explain to me how this is different from funding any start-up business?? Financial backers expect their return with interest based on success of said product that is produced, why not these individuals? Did they not support it? Problem is there is no contractual obligation between the parties, nothing was ever agreed upon.

[rainslacker]

Because on kickstarter you aren't seeding a company, just a project. A company can use kickstarter, and many people create a company for the purpose of kickstarting a project.

However, in the case of kickstarter, the people donating aren't investing in the company, they are paying for access to compensation in the form of rewards...typically the product being funded.

The people that actually invested into the company for OR made money off this sale. People on kickstarter got a dev kit.

[dcj0524]

Kickstarter is a pre-order and donation website for PRODUCTS.If you'd like to INVEST in a company this is not the place. Do so elsewhere. People didn't invest in OCULUS. They invested in the Rift. What OCULUS does is not a issue as long as they deliver the product.

[porkChop]

Except for the fact that Palmer Luckey used the Kickstarter money to build Oculus as a company. It wasn't all just used on the prototype. The backers DID invest in Oculus. And they did so because they wanted Oculus and its vision to succeed on its own. That's what the Kickstarter was for. Kickstarter's purpose is to fund projects and the teams behind them without the need for publishers or corporate backers. This Oculus business is a blatant misuse of Kickstarter.

Palmer Luckey used Kickstarter to get his company off the ground and make it more appealing to investors. Then he used those investors to make his company more appealing for a big buyout, which is exactly what happened with this Facebook deal. It was all planned from the start for them to make money and build their company, which is fine, but that's not what Kickstarter is for. The Kickstarter backers feel betrayed, and they have every right to be, because they were.

If they want a refund then they have every right to ask for one.

[Bonerboy]

WRONG. Hate to break it to you my boy, but this is business man. That's how the business world works. Misuse of funds? Really? Its a DONATION to do with what they please.
Kickstarter IS: Ask for donations >>> Deliver a product, or fail. THATS IT. Dont like taking that RISK? Then DONT DONATE. Refund? PFFT c'mon.
For further enlightenment on how the world actually works, see below.

[Bonerboy]

Hey guess what? That's KICKSTARTER. If these idiots wanted a stake in the wealth of this company then they should have bought >>SHARES<<. You know, SHARES, like an INVESTMENT. Pretty simple concept. IMO kickstarter is 'buyer beware' and anyone who cant grasp this before DONATING, not investing, but DONATING money, and gets burned then too bad. Its called "taking a risk". Sorry life wasn't 'fair' to you. The logic of some of these people is utterly baffling. Damn.

These self entitled whining backers got EXACTLY what was promised, THEIR DEV KIT(S). What else was promised to them? Nothing, that's what. NOTHING.
O.R. fulfilled their end of the bargain. What more needs to be said?

I'll break it down into simpler terms for some of you, ready...

Backer: "I ordered a cheeseburger, and you wont f'n believe what I got.... a f'n cheesburger!! Now the restaurant got bought out by a company I just dont like, and is now rich and successful!! They might even put pickles on the burgers now! This is TOTAL B.S.!!! I want my money back! No, in fact I want my money back plus some!"

Absolutely delusional, ridiculous, and baseless grievances.
Once again, CONTRACT FULFILLED. PERIOD.

S.M.H.

[porkChop]

No one is asking for money from the deal. You clearly didn't even bother READING my above comment. This isn't about making money and never was. If you're just going to spout a bunch of crap like this then don't bother "contributing" to the conversation because you make it painfully obvious that you have literally no idea why people are upset.

[starchild]

No, he absolutely nailed it. You are the one that doesn't understand.

People asking for their money back or threatening to sue are things that clearly DO equate to "asking for money from the deal".

Are those backers going to give back their DK1 Rift headsets? Not likely. They feel so entitled that they will probably expect to keep the Rift (not to mention all the fun times they have had on it) AND get all their money back.

It's absurd. You can dislike Facebook all you want and be personally disappointed that Oculus was acquired by them, but all the rest of this gnashing of teeth and hatemongering directed at Oculus is just astoundingly ignorant and shameful.

I've read literally thousands of comments on oculusvr.com, reddit, NeoGAF and many other sites, so to assume that people simply don't 'understand' the angry backers is just silly. I am a backer myself. I understand why some people think they have a reason to be angry, I just don't think that their reasons are sound or rationally justified.

[porkChop]

Starchild, your comment seems to be assuming that everyone who's upset had received a DK1. Some people couldn't afford that much but still pledged what they could to support the vision that was originally promised. Obviously if someone received a DK1 they shouldn't get a refund, that would be ridiculous.

Most people aren't threatening to sue and are instead just voicing their complaints, yet many people such as Bonerboy keep generalizing the entire situation as if everyone is asking for money. That just isn't true. There are real, valid concerns here, yet many are refusing to see that. Or in the case of Cliff Bleszinski who is a major investor in Oculus and stands to make a ton of money off this deal, seemingly denying there are any real issues at all, even judging/insulting Notch for being the bigger man and upholding his principles.

[rainslacker]

I look at it this way.

Everyone got what they were promised from their donation. OR then goes on to be highly successful without a buyout by becoming a major player in the gamers market. They make lots of money. Are those original backers really entitled to anything? The answer is no.

I understand the disgruntled feelings due to many people's feelings of FaceBook, but so far there isn't anything really saying that OR won't still be a major player in the VR market.

[aliengmr]

If you donated to kickstarter you got the reward promised. Be that a newsletter, a shirt, poster, or a dev kit. So on the kickstarter side, obligations fulfilled. End of debate on that unless that reward was NOT fulfilled.

On to the "vision" part, again the priority is still games (has to be) so the "vision" is intact. Unless that changes the debate is over.

Those who backed them but hate Facebook so much as to feel soiled by this deal...Well I got nothing. Sorry? I mean you don't get a refund, but...Sorry. I mean that too. There's just nothing to be done about it.

Notch is a different story. Major developer? Ehhh, no. Notch himself made it clear he's only so-so on VR and had only briefly discussed doing, not a Minecraft port, but a slimmed down free version.

Notch could have said nothing and nobody would have cared in the least. Instead he flew on to the internet minutes after the announcement and while the internet was freaking out boldly cancelled something he was not that keen on doing anyway. He could have had a more tactful exit, but got his 15 min.

We could go on and on about Ads, FB harvesting your soul, vague "promised visions", the doom of Kickstarter...

But there is one simple fact here. If you wanted a Rift, as of right now you will still be able to get one. When it released you can be sure the internet will tell about ads and FB integration/soul harvesting. And if those things exist, well you don't have to buy it. I won't.

By the way Michael Abrash, more than makes up for Notch leaving IMO.

EDIT: Something to consider about the advertising. Facebook's only product before acquiring Oculus was largely ad space. Now they have a TANGIBLE product to sell, its called the Rift. Furthermore this is a long term deal and not expected to generate short term cash.

The internet has made it pretty clear it doesn't want FB sign in or ads. Adding those doeon't seem to make sense. Do you honestly think FB is going to get away with pulling a fast one on PC gamers after this? If so I have some crack-proof DRM I'd like to sell you.

[ninjahunter]

Never seen so much name calling in the comments in my life.
Get it together guys. "No you're wrong, stupid, dumb, self entitled, stupid again, omg so dumb"

How dare they want to try and make the industry better by donating money to a revolutionary piece of technology, surely they deserve to get screwed over for not wanting the same content we've received for the past 10 years.

[aLiEnViSiToR]

lol wait so they want their donations back O_o i guess alot of them dont know what Kickstarter is anyway i think because things like this Kickstarter has a very grim future.

[TheObserver]

People are not mad because Oculus got rich. People are hoping to make them rich by buying their VR headsets anyway. They got mad because Oculus sold out to a corporation who main products is advertising and data mining. How is an advertising parent company going to earn money? ADVERTISE. You gotta be a special kind of naive to believe otherwise. "Diversifying their products"? LMAO, they are going to diversifies their advertising methods alright.

Oculus Rift effectively poisons the well for Kickstarter. Now instead of funding independent projects that big business don't want to push, people are now devolved to giving free R&D, market research, and advertising for corporations for FREE. You bet your ass that this will set a precedent. Which ever Corporation got the money will just buy another successful Kickstarter ventures and save themselves a ton of corporate funding. The sole reasons people fund many project via Kickstarter is to avoid corporate BS in the first place.

[drizzom]

This this this! Its not the fact that they got a ton of money from a company, its the fact that the company that funded them was 'Facebook'; notorious for being a breeding ground for cow clickers and ads at every direction you look.

[Bonerboy]

Yes I agree it will set a precedent. This was guaranteed to happen sooner rather than later and if people didnt see this as a possibility when they contributed then too bad for their blind ignorance. There have been other stories of products folding before reaching fruition long before this happened so why didnt anyone see this?

Kickstarter is a nice theory but ultimately deeply flawed and you nailed it by stating,
".....will just buy another successful Kickstarter ventures and save themselves a ton of corporate funding." ...and R&D and so on and so forth.

Kickstarter is a big corporation's wet dream and people just cant see it. I dont get it.

IMO people are pissy because their very specific personal vision of the product they hoped for might not be exactly what they get in the end. So what? A country could be nuked and these self entitled whiners would still be rattling on about how they have been so unfairly slighted by a big mean mega data corp. Shit, they live under rule of a Goverment. Bah, humans

[pakua]

VR is dead, let's all move on and play some games.

[drizzom]

There is a slim sliver of hope I have in Sonys Project Morpheus but what VR can bring in the general scope of things still remains to be seen. Whos to say VR wont just devolve into another channel of advertisements and die out like all the other gimmicks of the past? We already see signs of it with OR and FB. I have even less stock in it now than I had before. And due to just how bad ads have gotten in the recent years, I didn't put much stock into it to begin with.

[Dante81]

I don't know about dead, but this type of headset crap is far from the holodeck.

[troylazlow]

kickstarter dose not entitle you to anything. you give them money, thats the end of it. you have no say whatsoever. you do not have any shares in the company and they do not owe you anything.

get over it.

[feraldrgn]

I was wondering when it'd happen.

[greenking45]

this VR stuff is just a fad anyway...

[AnEwGuY]

This is the beginning of the end of Kickstarter, and other crowd-funded programs...at least as they are currently structured.

[anesthesique]

What the OR executives did was borderline legal but completely unethical. They used the bankers money and pledges not to deliver the gaming VR headset they promised, but to sell out their company and product for entirely different purposes other than gaming.

Regardless though, I don't think the bankers have a legal right to want their donations back.

[OpenGL]

I'm glad Oculus was purchased by Facebook, people have been throwing money at ridiculous Kickstarter projects for too long. If a product is a good fucking idea someone will fund it. When you use Kickstarter you literally give private businesses free money with no interest in that company.

Something like Kickstarter that allowed people to provide venture capital with an actual interest in the business would be much better, but companies wouldn't use it. As it stands Kickstarter is a way for businesses with "ideas" to get free money from stupid people.