In addition to making the Unreal series, Cliff Bleszinski is also an investor in Oculus VR. He admits in a recent blog post that, as an early investor in the company, he stands to make a lot of money from Facebook's $2 billion acquisition . But he also thinks the deal is great for Oculus VR overall.
“IF [Oculus Rift] is going to be (hopefully) a dedicated system instead of a (ugh) peripheral they need their version of whatever the app store would be,” Bleszinski said. “Your device is only as good as the store and community around it; if users can't say shut up and take my money, if developers can't post their work then the device will ultimately flounder. Facebook can assist with this sort of thing, as well as having a multi billion user reach.”
Bleszinski then goes on to explain what he thinks Kickstarter backers actually buy into when they back a product, Mark Zuckerberg's assurances about keeping Oculus Rift as a gaming device first, and other arguments you already heard elsewhere, including in our reaction to the acquisition .
Interestingly, in a postscript, Bleszinski calls out Markus “Notch” Persson specifically, who announced he was pulling the plug on an Oculus Rift version of Minecraft shortly after news of the deal first broke.
“Notch, your cancelling Minecraft makes you look like a pouty kid who is taking his ball and going home,” he said. “It's a bratty and petty move and it saddens me greatly.”
