Oculus Rift Inventor Palmer Luckey Receives Death Threats Over Facebook Deal

Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey has revealed that Oculus employees have been receiving death threats following the announcement that Facebook bought the firm in a deal worth $2bn.

Taking to Reddit, where Luckey was defending the move last week, he said: "We expected a negative reaction from people in the short term, we did not expect to be getting so many death threats and harassing phone calls that extended to our families."

"We know we will prove ourselves with actions and not words, but that kind of s**t is unwarranted, especially since it is impacting people who have nothing to do with Oculus."

Last week Luckey spoke of how he and his company hadn't expected such a negative response from their fans.

Doom creator and gaming legend John Carmack has also opened up about the deal. Carmack joined Oculus last year as their chief technology officer after being blown away by the technology.

He talked about the deal in a comment on a blog about Facebook takeover. "Honestly, I wasn't expecting Facebook (or this soon). I have zero personal background with them, and I could think of other companies that would have more obvious synergies.

"However, I do have reasons to believe that they get the Big Picture as I see it, and will be a powerful force towards making it happen. You don't make a commitment like they just did on a whim."

Carmack agreed with a fear of the blog's writer Peter Berkman, saying: "I share some of your misgivings about companies 'existing and operating only to be acquired'."

"There is a case to be made for being like Valve, and trying to build a new VR ecosystem like Steam from the ground up," he continued. "This is probably what most of the passionate fans wanted to see. The difference is that, for years, the industry thought Valve was nuts, and they had the field to themselves. Valve deserves all their success for having the vision and perseverance to see it through to the current state.

"VR won't be like that. The experience is too obviously powerful, and it makes converts on contact. The fairly rapid involvement of the Titans is inevitable, and the real questions were how deeply to partner, and with who."