Markus “Notch” Persson, creator of the hit sandbox game Minecraft and founder of Mojang, has pulled out of plans to utilise the Oculus Rift VR device. The revelation came almost immediately after Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg, announced their acquisition of the virtual reality system, closing the deal with $400 million in cash and $23.1 million in Facebook shares.
A statement was made by Zuckerberg himself, saying that they are “getting ready for the platforms of tomorrow,” and that the “Oculus [Rift] has the chance to create the most social platform ever, and change the way we work, play and communicate.” Believing that the Oculus Rift can be used for more than just games, Zuckerberg went out to discuss its additional value and purpose; such as “studying in a classroom,” or “consulting with a doctor face-to-face.”
Notch later lashed out at the news, stating that he will no longer be developing for the VR machine. In a message posted to his Twitter account, he mentioned cancelling a deal to create an Oculus Rift compatible version of Minecraft.
“We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.”
The tweet was met with positive feedback from followers and fans who share his concerns over the social network behemoth purchasing Oculus. Writing on his own website, Notch says he was interested in plans to create a “slimmed down version of Minecraft for the Oculus.” He also voiced his opinion on Facebook’s dip into the gaming waters.
“Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.”
While he understands that virtual reality can have its place in social media, he has said that he is more interested in working with games, rather than social.
What do you make of this news? Are you upset that Notch pulled out of Oculus Rift?
