Post by Dan @ 10:54am 26/03/14 | 37 Comments
Persson reveals that he had been in discussion to develop a tailored version of Minecraft for the VR display, and that those plans were now shelved due to general distrust and lack of confidence in Facebook:
I definitely want to be a part of VR, but I will not work with Facebook. Their motives are too unclear and shifting, and they haven’t historically been a stable platform. There’s nothing about their history that makes me trust them, and that makes them seem creepy to me.Despite being posted with the disclaimer of it being a "midnight mind dump" from a "jetlagged and tired" Notch, the full blog post offers an earnest and transparent explanation for the developer's decision and is otherwise still very positive about the potential future for virtual reality tech.
And I did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition.
I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers are Oculus. It’s been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.
Sadly, we're likely to see more of this kind of response from independent developers as the Rift project transitions from it's community-driven grassroots beginnings into a subsidiary of a publicly-listed company.
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Posted 11:11am 26/3/14
Posted 11:57am 26/3/14
Posted 12:00pm 26/3/14
Yep. F*** Notch and whatever he has to say about anything.
Posted 12:02pm 26/3/14
Posted 12:07pm 26/3/14
Posted 12:30pm 26/3/14
It's that game that came with windows alongside solitaire and hearts. Good times.
Posted 12:33pm 26/3/14
Posted 12:48pm 26/3/14
Posted 12:48pm 26/3/14
I don't see where he said he wants input into product direction.
All he's done is take a principled stand on future support for the project.
i.e. You Oculus guys are Facebook now, and I don't like Facebook so I'm not going ahead with my VR thing. Congrats with the acquisition, good luck & go nuts with it though.
I guess his eleventy million dollars affords him the luxury of not having to kowtow very often.
Posted 01:06pm 26/3/14
Posted 01:07pm 26/3/14
Posted 01:09pm 26/3/14
No doubt it's an interesting position to take, because he's is probably leaving a s***load of VR money on the table.
He probably figures he has enough though. I can't see anything really wrong with taking that position.
I agree with Khel in the other thread, Oculus probably need some serious dollars to get off the ground. Why not Facebook?
There's questionable practices but they're no more evil or creepy than the other corporate tech giants IMO.
Posted 01:54pm 26/3/14
Yeah, if I had the kind of money he did, I would be throwing my weight around too.
They would be pretty low down on a list of companies that I thought would do right by Oculus. They have very little experience in games, and pretty much zero experience in hardware beyond a few branded handsets. I wouldve thought someone with more experience in either of those areas might work better, Sony/Microsoft, EA/Activision, or even hardware manufacturers like Samsung or Apple.
Facebook just seems like a bad fit, and they're pretty unscrupulous to boot. In their favour, they have done right by some of the bigger acquisitions they've made of late, Instagram and Whatsapp still seem pretty popular and functional, although I don't have much interaction with either so I can't say for sure.
Posted 01:43pm 26/3/14
Posted 02:19pm 26/3/14
If Apple took it, that would suck, more.
If Microsoft took it, pretty sure that would suck.
If Sony took it, you'd better believe it, that would suck.
So I guess Facebook taking it isn't so bad. I mean it makes more sense than say, BHP.
Posted 02:27pm 26/3/14
Yup. Currently the top of r/all on reddit are like two threads about what Notch has to say. He offers no insight and is just pandering to the doom sayers.
Posted 02:31pm 26/3/14
I lol'd
Posted 08:01pm 26/3/14
meh - he's defending his product/service
if I were him I'd be ditching on the Eng audience atm
Posted 09:02pm 26/3/14
Thats hilarious, notch is probably pissed because if he did properly invest rather than "kickstart" he'd have two s***loads of cash right now rather than just one
Posted 03:16am 27/3/14
things you didn't know existed yesterday: Minecraft for Oculus
things you've lost since yesterday: not a lot
chances that he'll change his mind again if the Oculus becomes the standard for VR that it still has a good chance of becoming: we'll see
Posted 07:55am 27/3/14
Posted 08:09am 27/3/14
Posted 10:18am 27/3/14
While I'm glad he made OG minecraft, I'm also glad that he has nothing the f*** to do with it anymore, since now it's actually becoming a game with thing people actually want.
Chances are the guys doing the actual development on MC will just ignore him and roll in a mod or something.
Posted 11:52am 27/3/14
Posted 12:27pm 27/3/14
As far as I know, he ... just like the DayZ dev, worked on useless features while some of the core gameplay was broken, then (again, just like the DayZ dev) personally left his main project to work on something else as soon as some phat loot was acquired through pre-orders / early access.
I think those are the reasons for the overall hate - someone can correct me if I'm wrong.
Posted 12:46pm 27/3/14
Posted 09:11pm 27/3/14
Posted 10:47pm 27/3/14
I prefer it with the "but" in there, because changing or misreading the context of other people's statements to suit whatever point I'm trying to make would render that point invalid. We can get into an argument about it, if it's going to help you sleep tonight?
Posted 12:02pm 28/3/14
Smoking a few grams of weed helps me sleep at night. Taking out a lightweight such as yourself doesn't.
You'll have trouble arguing this point when you do it to others. Either the above quote is familiar to you, or delusion is getting the better of you.
Posted 10:05am 28/3/14
ph33x is one of those, with some heavy personality and/or psychological issues thrown in.
Is that seriously a quote from another forum from how long ago?
So many issues.
Posted 10:18am 28/3/14
Line 1: Nobody cares/why are you still here?
Line 2: Top baseless insult bro. Which debate with me did you lose that created the most butthurt?
Line 3: Posted two days ago, on this forum.
I get sick of people who seemingly have no clue, but that doesn't stop me from frequenting a website. Message!
I should be all internet tough-guy and call you mental, spazzo, retarded, stupid, etc - but it's not my style, I'm just too OG - sorry.
Posted 11:46am 28/3/14
You're a psychopathic wanker.
Posted 11:51am 28/3/14
Nonetheless, nice 'finisher' after posting about finishers bro. What other tricks can you do which further proves my point that you are deluded?
Posted 03:08pm 28/3/14
He has some credibility as a pretty decent game dev beyond just minecraft from what little I've seen, but I don't agree with him here.
Posted 04:55pm 02/4/14
Posted 12:15am 03/4/14
Posted 02:27am 03/4/14
Also I think FB and the money/support they bring will enable it to actually happen. Don't forget that FB are much like Google in that they have gazillions of dollars, exceptionally talented people, and are free to do what they like.
Most stuff I've seen about Notch is that he's a total douchebag.