Oculus VR, the company behind the Oculus Rift, and the company that was bought out by Facebook for $3 billion, has acquired software startup RakNet to add certain features like chatting and other communication features to video games.
Oculus VR notes that several video game companies such as Minecraft studio Mojang, and Sony Entertainment, uses the RakNet technology to power the chat feature behind their games. Furthermore, not only is Oculus VR purchasing RakNet, the company is also making the technology open-source.
This means other developers can see the code, and add to it whenever they see fit. Interestingly enough, the open source is available right now and it is under the BSD license, the same license used by Facebook for all of its open source projects.
The acquisition from what we've come to understand, has nothing to do with Facebook, this idea is all Oculus VR. The reason for this is because the company under Facebook has a sense of independence since the social network gives the company a good deal of freedom to do what it wants.
"We've known Kevin Jenkins, founder of Jenkins Software and lead engineer on RakNet, for years, and we've used RakNet internally at Oculus for various networked systems and tools. After working with Kevin for a few months, we were all excited by the idea of open-sourcing RakNet to the community," said the Oculus team.
It is clear from this purchase that online multiplayer will be a key aspect of the Oculus Rift going forward. Oculus VR cannot afford to be on the sidelines in this department, as Sony is making a big push with Project Morpheus, and the company is already getting a lot of praise for it. No doubt Oculus VR is taking Sony seriously after how the company is dismantling Microsoft in the console wars.
Apart from announcing the acquisition, Oculus VR will hold its first developer conference in Hollywood, California. This conference will be called Oculus Connect, and will take place on Sept. 19 to the 20th. Furthermore, the conference will see keynotes from CEO Brendan Iribe, founder Palmer Luckey, CTO John Carmack and chief scientist Michael Abrash.
