• Welcome to TechPowerUp Forums, Guest! Please check out our forum guidelines for info related to our community.

Oculus Shuts Down Its VR-driven Story Studio - The Empire Falters

Raevenlord

News Editor
Joined
Aug 12, 2016
Messages
3,755 (1.18/day)
Location
Portugal
System Name The Ryzening
Processor AMD Ryzen 9 5900X
Motherboard MSI X570 MAG TOMAHAWK
Cooling Lian Li Galahad 360mm AIO
Memory 32 GB G.Skill Trident Z F4-3733 (4x 8 GB)
Video Card(s) Gigabyte RTX 3070 Ti
Storage Boot: Transcend MTE220S 2TB, Kintson A2000 1TB, Seagate Firewolf Pro 14 TB
Display(s) Acer Nitro VG270UP (1440p 144 Hz IPS)
Case Lian Li O11DX Dynamic White
Audio Device(s) iFi Audio Zen DAC
Power Supply Seasonic Focus+ 750 W
Mouse Cooler Master Masterkeys Lite L
Keyboard Cooler Master Masterkeys Lite L
Software Windows 10 x64
VR is one of the most important buzzwords in tech, not only for current development, but also for what studios and tech insiders deem to be our entertainment future. Oculus, which paved the way for VR with its Rift headset concept (before being snagged by Facebook), is one of the biggest, most recognizable players in this space. Now, after a series of hurdles such as the Oculus-ZeniMax sonata, which saw the former facing payments of $500 million, and Oculus' founder Palmer Luckey abandoning the company, a house of cards is crumbling. Namely, Oculus' VR-driven Story Studio.





The Story Studio was responsible for advancing the world of VR movies, having actually done a critically acclaimed job of it, with movies such as Lost, Emmy Award winning Henry, and Dear Angelica, as well as the Quill tool that the Studio developed to create this kind of experiences. The move is being presented by Jason Rubin in a blog post, as a way to "best allocate our resources to create an impact on the ecosystem," with Oculus having decided to "shift our focus away from internal content creation to support more external production," which, naturally, means "winding down Story Studio." Rubin didn't say whether the Story Studio team members, which includes animators and directors from Pixar, DreamWorks Animation, and others, will remain at the company following the division's "winding down." It also remains to be seen whether this is actually a strategic decision, or just the culmination of a series of setbacks, which arguably include the way Oculus tried to work its content into an exclusivity platform. With the winding down of Oculus' first party work, though, the way may be paved for a more open ecosystem, where the Oculus platform is more open to external development.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site
 
Last edited:
Even 3D movies lasted longer than this lol
 
No idea what movies references those are but they are not in the IMDB.
 
Um should I still keep the htc vive on my list of things to buy
 
Oculus ecosystem is unhealthy to begin with. They were trying the walled garden hoping to keep everything off competitors. Unfortunately that shot themselves in the foot.

And in case people are saying VR is bad and etc. take a look at this:

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/behind-screen/ready-player-one-wb-partners-htc-vive-988900


Um should I still keep the htc vive on my list of things to buy


Most TPU members are against new technology. I would recommend you ask on reddit/Vive. As a Vive owner I can tell you this is single most exciting technology introduced for a long time. It is a completely new way for human-machine interface.
 
IMDB.com is my goto site.
 
Um should I still keep the htc vive on my list of things to buy
I think you're asking the wrong question. The right question to ask, imho, is do you have available content that you could use a Vive for?
 
I see what e3 has to offer this year for vr if nothing exciting I skip it. But if fallout 4 is still going on vr then yea maybe
 
I see what e3 has to offer this year for vr if nothing exciting I skip it. But if fallout 4 is still going on vr then yea maybe

I can totally see FalloutVR cost $59.99 and requires a TitanXp to run it. And this is only for current gen VR HMD which only use 2 X 1440p display. Once we get to next gen VR it will need a beefy GPU to push two 4K OLED at a CONSTANT 90FPS. I hope Volta Titan will be good enough for that.
 
I've always predicted VR to fail miserably in the consumer space.

It's happening. The gimmick value has worn off by now, just like Eye Toy, Wii, 3D TV, and all the other stuff that requires you to be active while enjoying your entertainment. People are lazy, and that will never change.

VR is now in uncanny valley and we have yet to see it get out of there.
 
Last edited:
This is too bad. All of the Oculus Studio stuff I own is of great quality and helped set early benchmarks for what can be done with the tech.
 
I've always predicted VR to fail miserably in the consumer space.

It's happening. The gimmick value has worn off by now, just like Eye Toy, Wii, 3D TV, and all the other stuff that requires you to be active while enjoying your entertainment. People are lazy, and that will never change.

VR is now in uncanny valley and we have yet to see it get out of there.

And the quality is subpar. VR needs lighter, smaller and higher res headset WITH quality content to take off. Two games isn't gonna cut it.

They should have waited a few years. Flexible displays can solve the headset issue.
 
Most TPU members are against new technology.

"That i Dispute vehemently "
We as a Group generally look forward to new tech
Some of us have been vocal with our concerns about the overall viability of VR usualy this on the Cost and longevity ie support issues

ITS A NICHE PRODUCT at the moment and its cost prevents it from achieving mainstream Viability
 
I know the Oculus received a ton of traction prior to the Facebook buyout. Personally, the buyout ended any interest I had in the Oculus hardware. Facebook is the last company I trust with that sort of tech.
 
I've always predicted VR to fail miserably in the consumer space.

It's happening. The gimmick value has worn off by now, just like Eye Toy, Wii, 3D TV, and all the other stuff that requires you to be active while enjoying your entertainment. People are lazy, and that will never change.

VR is now in uncanny valley and we have yet to see it get out of there.
Hey, at least you could get a Wii for $200. A Rift/Vive is priced way above the impulse buy level. And after you buy it, you realize to spend the same amount on a video card to feed it. A foolproof business plan if you come to think about it.
 
I think im the only one that doesnt really care about VR and I honestly dont see it being a viable platform for gaming 10 years from now.
 
Nope. 99% TPU members here are VR haters.
Just because someone doesn't see VR taking off, doesn't mean they hate VR.
Anyway, VR's problem isn't haters, is people that don't care (at current prices).
 
Nope. 99% TPU members here are VR haters.
I'm not a VR hater, for me VR just gives me a headache that doesnt go away for hours. I tired it a few times with a friends head set, after the 3rd time I couldnt take the headache anymore. And I'm a person who never gets sick but I do wear some nice thick glasses, maybe thats the issue.
 
This was in the pipeline for Oculus. They only opened the studio to show film makers what they can do with VR. They are moving those resources to making other content.

Um Oculus is just one competitor? We still have the Vive and a few others. VR isn't going anywhere.

Honestly Vive is better anyway.

Here is a good reason why.

http://www.msn.com/en-my/money/tech...lity-module-will-follow-your-sight/ar-BBABpMo

Yea, Microsoft's HMD which is being manufactured by a few vendors will be $300 and have inside out tracking like it's hololens. The tracking isn't as good as the Vive, but it's good enough and doesn't need anything other than the tech on the HMD to track it. We will be getting Fallout VR this year. Also, Valve is working on 3 titles at the moment. I just bought Batman Arkham VR and it's short, but amazing and really shows what good content in VR will be like in the future.
 
Last edited:
Back
Top