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
