Oculus – founded 2012, Menlo Park, California, virtual‑reality technology company, subsidiary of Meta Platforms.

History

Oculus began as a Kickstarter project launched on August 1 2012, raising $2.4 million to develop the Oculus Rift headset Kickstarter. The first development kit shipped in March 2013 Meta Blog, followed by the DK2 in 2014 Road to VR.

Acquisition by Meta

In March 2014, Facebook announced a definitive agreement to acquire Oculus VR for approximately $2 billion in cash and stock Meta Newsroom (also reported by MarketWatch). The acquisition positioned Oculus as a central pillar of Meta’s virtual‑reality strategy.

Product Line

Rift Series

The consumer‑ready Rift CV1 launched in Q1 2016 Oculus Blog. A refreshed Rift S arrived in spring 2019 Meta Blog.

Standalone Headsets

The Oculus Go, Meta’s first all‑in‑one headset, was released in 2018 Meta Newsroom. The Quest line debuted with the original Quest in 2019, followed by Quest 2 in 2020 Meta Newsroom, Quest Pro in 2022 Meta Newsroom, Quest 3 in October 2023 Meta Blog, and the budget‑focused Quest 3S in October 2024 Meta Newsroom.

Rebranding

In October 2021, Meta announced that the Oculus brand would be retired and the consumer line would be marketed as Meta Quest starting in 2022 The Verge.

Leadership

Palmer Luckey, the original founder, left Meta in 2017 The Guardian. John Carmack served as CTO from 2013 until stepping down in 2022 The Verge.

Recent Developments

Meta continues to expand the Quest ecosystem, emphasizing mixed‑reality capabilities with the Quest 3 and Quest 3S, while integrating the hardware with its broader metaverse initiatives.

Internal Links: Virtual Reality, Meta Platforms, Kickstarter, John Carmack, Palmer Luckey, Meta Quest