​

Yesterday, the FTC filed a case in the Northern California district court to stop Meta (Facebook) from buying Within Inc, the company which makes the popular fitness game Supernatural. Detailed on page 3 of the court document, the FTC stated that Meta is trying to create a VR monopoly with the acquisition, with the ownership of Oculus already having a "significant majority of headset sales in 2021 and 2022.". The FTC also states that if Within is acquired, the market for VR could become uncompetitive, as they already own the company behind Beat Saber, Beat Games.

When viewed against the backdrop of the broader VR fitness app market, which includes both [dedicated or incidental fitness apps], the merger is no less anticompetitive. Letting Meta acquire Supernatural would combine the makers of two of the most significant VR fitness apps, thereby eliminating beneficial rivalry between Meta's BeatSaber app and Within's Supernatural app[…,] the Acquisition would substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in the relevant antitrust market for VR dedicated fitness apps in the United States[.] The Acquisition would also substantially lessen competition or tend to create a monopoly in the broader relevant antitrust market of VR fitness apps in the United States that includes both dedicated fitness apps and incidental fitness apps.​

Source

 

[MikaDubbz]

I'm sorry, what? In what world is Meta a monopoly on VR? It's a real shame that there aren't major competitors with sizable shares of the VR pie like Valve, HTC, or Playstation. Oculus was certainly at the forefront of modern accessible VR, but to say they currently have a monopoly on the medium would be to turn a blind eye to reality. And I say this as someone who is ready to shit on Facebook at any easy opportunity.

 

[TraderPatTX]

I can't speak for airlines, but on the telecom side they were busy forcing Bell Labs to break up.

That was a very long time ago. I'm talking about in the last 45 years. AT&T and Comcast are each larger than Bell was when they were broken up. Now we have telecoms who are content providers buying movie studios who are content creators.

Just look at the airlines. Compare how many we had to choose from in the 90's and how many few we have now.

 

[Kraken_X]

I'm sorry, what? In what world is Meta a monopoly on VR? It's a real shame that there aren't major competitors with sizable shares of the VR pie like Valve, HTC, or Playstation. Oculus was certainly at the forefront of modern accessible VR, but to say they currently have a monopoly on the medium would be to turn a blind eye to reality. And I say this as someone who is ready to shit on Facebook at any easy opportunity.

Ours. They have 90%+ of the market share since they sell their headsets below cost.

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/meta-captures-90-of-vr-headset-market-share

Those 90% of VR users are also locked in to Facebook's storefront since none of their purchases will transfer to other headsets. Meanwhile SteamVR is Occulus compatible, making the switch to Meta/Facebook easy. Facbook doesn't even have to pay for exclusives any more because the market share for other VR solutions is so low devs have to release on Occulus. Without government action, Facebook is likely to own VR forever, and they know it, which is why they literally changed their name.

But hey, the FTC blocking one aquisition is something (more than most administrations at least), even if the game in question was already Facebook exclusive.

 

[MikaDubbz]

Ours. They have 90%+ of the market share since they sell their headsets below cost.

https://www.insiderintelligence.com/content/meta-captures-90-of-vr-headset-market-share

Those 90% of VR users are also locked in to Facebook's storefront since none of their purchases will transfer to other headsets. Meanwhile SteamVR is Occulus compatible, making the switch to Meta/Facebook easy. Facbook doesn't even have to pay for exclusives any more because the market share for other VR solutions is so low devs have to release on Occulus. Without government action, Facebook is likely to own VR forever, and they know it, which is why they literally changed their name.

But hey, the FTC blocking one aquisition is something (more than most administrations at least), even if the game in question was already Facebook exclusive.

Sorry, but when I hear monopoly, what I envision is a situation where one company owns literally every option available for the product and therfore they get full control of what they charge for it. As long as other competitors exist with a solid product of their own that they charge at a competitive price, then I don't see a propper monopoly in effect even if they don't have nearly the market share of installed users. Occulus can't charge 5 grand per VR unit because other products exist at a more reasonable rate to keep prices reasonable for the consumer.

 

[chrisrlink]

uh oh on his next turn Zucky might land on the "go to jail" space bwahahahaha

 

[64bitmodels]

Make Facebook sell Oculus (preferably, to valve or microsoft) and everything will be good. I love Oculus, I think their products are amazing. Facebooks products aren't amazing though, or even mediocre. They suck big time