Facebook’s financial progress was revealed in an earnings call with investors today, in which the social media giant announced that the profits in the first quarter of 2016 had increased by $512m USD from the same period last year, up to $1.5bn. More interestingly however, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg commented on the launch of the Oculus Rift and the company’s intentions for the future of virtual reality (VR).
“I really want to emphasise that most [Oculus] Rift early adopters are gamers and developers, but eventually we believe that VR is going to be the next big computing platform and we’re making the investments necessary to lead the way,” stated Zuckerberg. “We’ve got a lot of great content with more than 50 games and apps built for Rift. Again, this is very early and we don’t expect VR to take of as a mainstream success right away.”
Zuckerberg’s comments were reiterated by Chief Financial Officer, David Wehner, who suggested that the firm doesn’t anticipate ‘any material impact on revenue in 2016’.
Facebook finalised the purchase of Oculus VR in April 2014 for a total value of $2,001,985,000. The Oculus Rift eventually launched on 28th March 2016. VRFocus will keep you updated on the future of the Oculus Rift and Facebook’s continued investment in VR.
