The news was first broken by the Wall Street Journal, and after IGN reached out, ZeniMax provided the following statement:

“ZeniMax confirms it recently sent formal notice of its legal rights to Oculus concerning its ownership of key technology used by Oculus to develop and market the Oculus Rift. ZeniMax’s technology may not be licensed, transferred or sold without ZeniMax Media’s approval. ZeniMax’s intellectual property rights arise by reason of extensive VR research and development works done over a number of years by John Carmack while a ZeniMax employee, and others. ZeniMax provided necessary VR technology and other valuable assistance to Palmer Luckey and other Oculus employees in 2012 and 2013 to make the Oculus Rift a viable VR product, superior to other VR market offerings.

The proprietary technology and know-how Mr. Carmack developed when he was a ZeniMax employee, and used by Oculus, are owned by ZeniMax. Well before the Facebook transaction was announced, Mr. Luckey acknowledged in writing ZeniMax’s legal ownership of this intellectual property. It was further agreed that Mr. Luckey would not disclose this technology to third persons without approval. Oculus has used and exploited ZeniMax’s technology and intellectual property without authorization, compensation or credit to ZeniMax. ZeniMax and Oculus previously attempted to reach an agreement whereby ZeniMax would be compensated for its intellectual property through equity ownership in Oculus but were unable to reach a satisfactory resolution. ZeniMax believes it is necessary to address these matters now and will take the necessary action to protect its interests.”

Oculus has denied the claims, stating that, “It’s unfortunate, but when there’s this type of transaction, people come out of the woodwork with ridiculous and absurd claims. We intend to vigorously defend Oculus and its investors to the fullest extent.”

According to IGN, Carmack, the the mind behind id Software’s Doom and Wolfenstein franchises, contacted Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey in 2012, leading to a relationship that served as the genesis for Oculus Rift, according to the WSJ. Later that same year, ZeniMax and Oculus started ultimately unsuccessful negotiations for ZeniMax to get compensation or equity stake for the Oculus IP.

“I wish he bought ours,” Longworth joked. “All the folks at Oculus have got big smiles on today,” he added, referring to the news that Facebook’s Oculus acquisition was just cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice and FTC (via Reuters).

Longworth noted that Sony is still very much excited about the impending prospect of mass market VR. “If you think about VR, not just in terms of gaming, I think wearable technology is a huge trend that’s going to continue,” he predicted. “I think that being able to have experiences that are truly deep and immersive…that it somehow makes you feel you are there…is something that people want. If you could really deliver that in the future, that would be huge.”

Are you excited about the future of virtual reality? Share your thoughts in the comments.

Now, Valve’s former VR specialist Michael Abrash has joined Oculus as Chief Scientist Officer, and said in a statement that VR will be the platform to end all platforms. Lofty talk, to say the least.

“We’re on the cusp of what I think is not The Next Big Platform, but rather simply The Final Platform – the platform to end all platforms – and the path here has been so improbable that I can only shake my head,” Abrash wrote. He continued, “A lot of what it will take to make VR great is well understood at this point, so it’s engineering, not research; hard engineering, to be sure, but clearly within reach. For example, there are half a dozen things that could be done to display panels that would make them better for VR, none of them pie in the sky.”

Because of Facebook, Abrash said, “VR is going to happen in all its glory…I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can.”

Abrash concluded, ”It feels like it did when I went to Id, but on steroids – this time we’re working on technology that will change not just computer gaming, but potentially how all of us interact with computers, information, and each other every day. I think it’s going to be the biggest game-changer I’ve ever seen”

So what do you guys think? Are you interested in VR? Let me know in the comments, and have a great weekend, everyone!

In a blog post on the Oculus website, Abrash shared his thoughts on the future of VR and Oculus, boldly stating that virtual reality (VR) will bring about the demise of all other platforms.

“We’re on the cusp of what I think is not The Next Big Platform, but rather simply The Final Platform – the platform to end all platforms – and the path here has been so improbable that I can only shake my head,” Abrash wrote. He continued, “A lot of what it will take to make VR great is well understood at this point, so it’s engineering, not research; hard engineering, to be sure, but clearly within reach. For example, there are half a dozen things that could be done to display panels that would make them better for VR, none of them pie in the sky.”

Because of Facebook, Abrash said, “VR is going to happen in all its glory…I now fully expect to spend the rest of my career pushing VR as far ahead as I can.”

Abrash concluded, “It feels like it did when I went to Id, but on steroids – this time we’re working on technology that will change not just computer gaming, but potentially how all of us interact with computers, information, and each other every day. I think it’s going to be the biggest game-changer I’ve ever seen”

Yet my question is for you the gamer, since we are the ones most passionate about this kind of tech. Surely Facebook’s dabbling in “our” space was sure to rattle some — including me. But what do you guys think? Is the virtual dream dead now that Facebook has purchased Oculus?

Let’s talk!

This will be uncomfortable news for the gaming community, as it’s already extremely skeptical of Facebook’s plans for the company.

Meanwhile, the creator of Minecraft, Markus Persson, known as “Notch” to many, has said that he’s ended talks to develop a version of the popular game for Ocolus Rift, citing doubts in Facebook’s intentions. Saying that, “Facebook creeps me out.”

Facebook announced its acquisition of Oculus Rift for $2 billion on cash and stock last night, a move that’s left many a people confused, including various analysts firms.

James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research, questioned Facebook’s strategy in buying Oculus, because he does not believe virtual reality has compelling applications beyond gaming.

“The fit is so poor,” he said. “You could easily have done some kind of partnership.”

And Brian Blau, an analyst with the research firm Gartner who worked in virtual reality over two decades ago, said that back then, “Virtual reality had hip, hype and hope.” He added, “Unfortunately the story is still the same today.”

Said Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s founder in a post following the acquisition:

I’m excited to announce that we’ve agreed to acquire Oculus VR, the leader in virtual reality technology.

Our mission is to make the world more open and connected. For the past few years, this has mostly meant building mobile apps that help you share with the people you care about. We have a lot more to do on mobile, but at this point we feel we’re in a position where we can start focusing on what platforms will come next to enable even more useful, entertaining and personal experiences.

This is where Oculus comes in. They build virtual reality technology, like the Oculus Rift headset. When you put it on, you enter a completely immersive computer-generated environment, like a game or a movie scene or a place far away. The incredible thing about the technology is that you feel like you’re actually present in another place with other people. People who try it say it’s different from anything they’ve ever experienced in their lives.

Oculus’s mission is to enable you to experience the impossible. Their technology opens up the possibility of completely new kinds of experiences.

Immersive gaming will be the first, and Oculus already has big plans here that won’t be changing and we hope to accelerate. The Rift is highly anticipated by the gaming community, and there’s a lot of interest from developers in building for this platform. We’re going to focus on helping Oculus build out their product and develop partnerships to support more games. Oculus will continue operating independently within Facebook to achieve this.

But this is just the start. After games, we’re going to make Oculus a platform for many other experiences. Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home.

This is really a new communication platform. By feeling truly present, you can share unbounded spaces and experiences with the people in your life. Imagine sharing not just moments with your friends online, but entire experiences and adventures.

These are just some of the potential uses. By working with developers and partners across the industry, together we can build many more. One day, we believe this kind of immersive, augmented reality will become a part of daily life for billions of people.

Virtual reality was once the dream of science fiction. But the internet was also once a dream, and so were computers and smartphones. The future is coming and we have a chance to build it together. I can’t wait to start working with the whole team at Oculus to bring this future to the world, and to unlock new worlds for all of us.

Big news, but it is good news for the virtual space? Well that answer is yet to be made clear, as Facebook clearly has bigger plans for Oculus other than gaming, plans that may, in the future, trump the technology’s gaming roots. At least Sony’s Morpheus is here to save the day, but even that assumption is infant since Project Morpheus is a PlayStation-exclusive device. Interesting times ahead, that’s for sure.

Let us know what you think about this latest, breaking news that’s shocked gaming’s web.