Social media giant Facebook is selling off its virtual reality arm Oculus' 3D sculpting tool Medium to Adobe. Oculus' Medium is a 3D sculpting tool used in filmmaking and video games. Moreover, this could be a pivotal move towards broader and more professional usage of VR. However, the terms of the deal were not shared by either of the companies.
The Oculus team was becoming too expensive to handle for Facebook and the selloff decision is a clear indication towards broader rethinking within the company in what virtual reality projects they tackle in-house. Oculus had invested a lot of money in Medium over the past few years and the sale may not have been that great for the Oculus Medium team.
Doe the sale make sense?
Oculus was a technology and virtual reality company. Facebook purchased Oculus in 2014 for $2 billion following the Federal Communications Commission approval for the acquisition. That said, the companies continued to work separately even after Mark Zuckerberg acquired the company.
Medium was first launched in 2016 allows users to create their own 3D models in a VR environment. The tool can be used by users draw, paint and simulate action. However, maintaining the Medium team was becoming too expensive for Facebook given that Oculus had pumped in a lot of money on the Medium team lately.
The only intelligent thing that Facebook did was properly spinning out Medium. However, the decision to sell off Oculus Medium may come as a surprise to many given that Facebook has big ambitions surrounding the VR space. In that case, if Facebook really wants to capture a bigger pie of the virtual reality then why would it be selling a property from its already successful virtual reality toolset?
Abode gains
On the other hand buying Oculus Medium is an indication that Adobe is trying to expand its footprint in the virtual reality space. Adobe 3D and Immersive Vice President Sebastian Deguy said in a statement, "Medium has been a beacon of creativity in the virtual reality space, pushing creative and technical boundaries of 3D modelling."
Virtual reality is predicted to become a more significant tool in the coming days and for Adobe it might just be the first significant stepping stone towards exploring new avenues in the virtual reality space.
