Father of modern VR returns to Meta to check out Orion, gives thoughts on mass production
Palmer Luckey, founder of Oculus and the person responsible for the revival of modern VR, recently returned to Meta to try out the Orion AR glasses. Luckey designed the first ever Oculus Rift and sold his company to Meta in 2014 when Zuckerberg saw its potential. Today, 10 years later, Meta has Orion to show for all its efforts.
Palmer Luckey actually kept working under Meta after the acquisition of Oculus until he was ousted for a multitude of reasons. His work after that has widely been regarded as controversial because he has mostly stuck to working for the defense sector.
When Meta unveiled Orion on September 25 we got to see the end result of all the money and time the company has invested into XR (Extended Reality). On September 30 Luckey tweeted a photo of him trying out Orion at Meta, something he said was well worth the trip.
A few days later Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth publicly apologized for his previous comments about Luckey, saying that he had been misinformed. Luckey accepted the apology and praised Orion, claiming it was what he would have wanted to accomplish as well.
When Meta unveiled Orion on September 25 we got to see the end result of all the money and time the company has invested into XR (Extended Reality). On September 30 Luckey tweeted a photo of him trying out Orion at Meta, something he said was well worth the trip.
I'm glad you came by to check out Orion. I mentioned this in person, but I also wanted to publicly apologize for my previous comments about your time at (then) Oculus. I’m sorry. After reading the recent Tablet piece I dug into some of the events that preceded my time when a… https://t.co/s894YrAUz5
— Boz (@boztank) October 2, 2024
When told by users that they couldn’t see Orion catching on and replacing smartphones, Luckey shared a 1998 quote from economist Paul Krugman who had downplayed the importance of the internet. Luckey also talked about how often certain technologies can go from being expensive prototypes to affordable consumer products in a short period of time.
Meta is also working on improving its Ray-Ban smart glasses. | Video credit — Meta
Orion isn’t the only way Meta has adopted Luckey’s mindset in recent years. Back in April of this year Meta opened up Quest OS to third parties. Palmer Luckey commented at the time that this is the approach he had always wanted to take with Oculus, and was glad that Meta was finally taking his advice.
Orion sounds like a pipe dream at the moment, but so was a slab of glass that connected you to the entire world at one point. I, personally, not only think that Zuckerberg has the right idea, but also believe that AR glasses are the natural progression from smartphones.
Orion sounds like a pipe dream at the moment, but so was a slab of glass that connected you to the entire world at one point. I, personally, not only think that Zuckerberg has the right idea, but also believe that AR glasses are the natural progression from smartphones.
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