So Facebook have got hold of the latest craze in gaming, the Oculus Rift. It’s always good news to hear about upcoming start-ups receiving heavy investment, but can we trust Facebook to make the right decisions with such an exciting piece of gaming tech? Here are the pros and cons of the new partnership between Facebook and Oculus.

Pros

• Awareness – It’s so important for something as intriguing as Oculus Rift to get the attention it deserves. With Facebook onboard, they are bound to thrive in the limelight with far greater effect than if they were by themselves.
• Reception – You need a good reception when you release a games console of any kind. We saw the flaws in Nintendo’s Wii U release, which mainly pointed towards the lack of reception. Facebook can certainly give Oculus that benefit.
• Updates – We’ll be given updates on a regular basis courtesy of Facebook, which will further enhance the potential target audiences. We’ll also get more of an idea about where it’s going thanks to news features, game updates, videos and more.
• Money – Facebook have plenty of money. If they understand the potential of Oculus then they might just spend significant amounts to really boost the development of the system.
• Achieving Potential – The Oculus Rift won’t struggle to achieve its potential if they’ve got Facebook providing the funds. They can explore beyond gaming and possibly find groundbreaking uses for their technology.
• Security – With such an investment, Oculus know they’ve got something to fall back on should things not go as planned in the early stages. They can easily adapt their approach to meet the demands of the consumers and change to attract developers in the future.
• Gaming Companies – You might be surprised to hear that Facebook are the ones to purchase Oculus instead of someone like Sony or Nintendo. This is good news though as we can rest assured the ideas put forward won’t be restricted to gaming companies trying to get one up on each other.

Cons

• Privacy – Facebook aren’t the most trusted of companies. Due to issues with user privacy in the past, some people might be wary of Facebook choosing to take Oculus online. If privacy is under threat, it could really damage the reputation of Oculus.
• Developers – Other developers aren’t interested in working with Facebook. Just imagine how many developers’ hearts sank when they heard Facebook were getting hold of Oculus. Facebook have a reputation for poor business terms that aren’t attractive enough to developers, so this could be an issue if we want to see good games arrive for Oculus.
• Reputation – Facebook have a bad reputation with developers and users, whilst they also have a bad reputation in the gaming world. Can we really trust them to deliver for a gaming system with such potential?
• Identity – Oculus might not have the identity they deserve once everything’s in full swing, simply because Facebook will be the ones who carry out the advertising. The wider audience might fail to look beyond the social media giant and deliver credit where it’s not necessarily due.
• Games – If Facebook do games, are they going to be like Farmville? (Yes, this is in the cons).

Mike James is a techy geek and business consultant from Sussex, UK. With a passion for technology and IT he often writes about his finds on behalf of Pronetic, an IT solutions provider.