Spending your inordinately over-valued 'currency' on an ever-reaching (and increasingly over-valued) portfolio of dreams may have been the stuff of expanding multiples and social media stock-lovers; but for the creator of Minecraft (among the world's most popular games), Facebook's move to buy Oculus was the last straw. As WSJ reports [2], Markus Persson just cancelled his company's deal with Oculus explaining that he "did not chip in ten grand to seed a first investment round to build value for a Facebook acquisition." It seems shareholders are of similar mind, cutting Facebook's value by $6bn this morning after the $2bn acquisition.
We were in talks about maybe bringing a version of Minecraft to Oculus. I just cancelled that deal. Facebook creeps me out.
— Markus Persson (@notch) March 25, 2014 [3]
As WSJ reports,
The ripples from Facebook’s deal to buy Oculus VR are spreading quickly.
Not long after news broke that the videogame-goggle company was getting acquired, the creator of one of the most popular videogames today said he was canceling an Oculus Rift project. Markus Persson, creator of “Minecraft,” said the company he founded, Mojang, was in talks to bring the game to Oculus before the Facebook deal.
Not anymore.
As Persson notes on his personal blog,
Facebook is not a company of grass-roots tech enthusiasts. Facebook is not a game tech company. Facebook has a history of caring about building user numbers, and nothing but building user numbers. People have made games for Facebook platforms before, and while it worked great for a while, they were stuck in a very unfortunate position when Facebook eventually changed the platform to better fit the social experience they were trying to build.
...
I have the greatest respect for the talented engineers and developers at Oculus. It’s been a long time since I met a more dedicated and talented group of people. I understand this is purely a business deal, and I’d like to congratulate both Facebook and the Oculus owners. But this is where we part ways.
It seems shareholders are agreeing today...
[4]
Facebook has spent $21 billion in the last month and the stock has fallen 15%... or ~$30bn...