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HTC is officially "not happy" about Oculus Exclusives

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
An article is hitting social media about this interview, so I figure I might as well post it here first.

And before the spurious protests start flying off the keyboards, special attention should be given to this quote from Joel Breton, Vice President of Global VR Content for HTC Vive:

Oculus, I think they’re doing good work for the overall ecosystem in some areas. I disagree with their strategy a lot.”

“I just feel that they’re essentially hampering developers’ ability to
create large communities
by blocking them out from other platforms.”


This is likely in response to the fact that Robo Recall is getting critical acclaim as a Killer VR App, yet Oculus paid upwards of $10 million not only for its development but also for a certain time allotment of "exclusivity."

Personally, I take Breton's analysis very lightly - not because he's HTC - because he also said this:

Breton believes that Google Earth is a “Killer app in VR”

Full article:

https://www.vrandfun.com/htc-vive-joel-breton-disapproves-oculus-business-strategies/


163 REPLIES 163

vannagirl
Consultant
ohh sorry Zenbane i read it later,

i am too busy playing robo recall
Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are. 

jayhawk
Superstar
Google Earth VR is killer, and it's an app, but not the killer app. 99 out of 100 Rift owners are fine with Oculus' approach to exclusives :D.

CrashFu
Consultant
I suppose Mr. Breton believes that the way to create large communities is to intentionally steal existing VR-users from competitors in the industry, competitors which include your own business partner and their existing platform (instead of pulling entirely NEW consumers into the market) and then offering those consumers practically no content at all, thus making them get bored with VR altogether?  Or by instigating these petty wars by turning the general public against competitors?

I'd also love to hear why he only throws this shade at Oculus and not at Sony, who are doing the exact same thing as Oculus... or how he expects developers to "create large communities [by releasing on multiple platforms]"  if those developers aren't offered any publishing deals to fund their work in the first place.

Either this man is completely ignorant, or he's specifically trying to influence people who are.
It's hard being the voice of reason when you're surrounded by unreasonable people.

Anonymous
Not applicable
Yup. I saw this a few days ago on the Rift Reddit page and will say the same thing that I said when I commented on that thread:

Why the FUCK didn't the interviewer ask the question that EVERYONE wants the answer to: Is it HTC or Valve that are preventing the Oculus SDK being extended to cover the Vive headset..?

I think we all know the answer when you consider that it's in Oculus' business interest to sell software for both headsets in their Store, it's in HTC's business interest to have native compatibility for their headset in a Store that not only has Premium software available for it but also will lower the barrier of entry because you won't need such a high spec machine to run said software and it's in Valve's business interest to be the only store out of the two that sells software for both headsets.

But it would be good to have official confirmation that Valve have been anti-competitive and anti-consumer since this VR generation started.

Zenbane
MVP
MVP
Completely agree @CrashFu

Breton's approach to public criticism is highly unprofessional; and I'll explain why.

Let's first assume that Breton is completely correct: Oculus is wrong to fund exclusive VR titles. Then what is Breton's motivation here if he knows he's right? As a VP for HTC, his job should be to ensure increased sales of the HTC Vive. If he publicly "corrects" Oculus and Oculus senior leaders take Breton's advice... then Oculus will strengthen their market share. Isn't that counter-intuitive to HTC's success? Breton just gave Oculus advice on how to better defeat the company Breton represents. And that's just stupid.

Next, let's assume that Breton is completely wrong: Oculus is making a strong move to fund exclusive VR titles. What is Breton's motivation here if he knows he's wrong? His actions would only serve to demonstrate the fear of defeat at the hands Oculus. Is HTC worried? Is Breton panicking? He makes the criticism but never backs up the argument (i.e. references to Microsoft, Android, and Apple), and his opinion is presented without a single mention towards decades of console exclusives. If he made the choice to fumble through his panic by hoping Oculus would fall for the bait, then the only thing he did as a corporate senior leader is expose a lack of leadership. Breton just revealed that HTC's biggest strategy against Oculus... is to Troll them. And that's just stupid.

His main criticism - "is it good or bad to fun VR exclusives" - is no longer a point of contention. It is completely overshadowed by his poor judgement as the Vice President of an organization.

Simply put: it no longer matters if Oculus is making the right or wrong choice to fund VR exclusives. What does matter is that HTC has no damn clue how to handle it.

kevink808
Superstar
Sounds like a a lot of butt-hurt to me.
Rift-S, Quest 128GB, GO 64GB.

vannagirl
Consultant
news storys as this make me feel good about my choice of hmd

also robo recall
has anyone mention robo recall??
Look, man. I only need to know one thing: where they are. 

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:

It's like you guys are in complete denial.

Now check out all of my own denial that is way better denial than your denial <inserts denial>



Atmos, your post history is 98% denial. sshhh

Zenbane
MVP
MVP

Atmos73 said:

Haha but I have articles to back them up. You have nothing.


You say I have nothing because you are in denial. You are also in denial of what your articles truly reference.