Oculus VR’s deal with Facebook is certainly an unpopular move, and many people, such as developer and project crowdfunder Notch, have legitimate reasons to criticize the company heavily. However, it’s taking things a step too far when the devs receive death threats, and that, unfortunately, is what happened.
Palmer Luckey, one of Oculus VR’s cofounders, describes what the devs went through and how they plan to react to criticism in general:
We expected a negative reaction from people in the short term, we did not expect to be getting so many death threats and harassing phone calls that extended to our families.
We know we will prove ourselves with actions and not words, but that kind of shit is unwarranted, especially since it is impacting people who have nothing to do with Oculus.
We should not have to discuss this, but obviously, death threats and harrasment are not an acceptable way to express grievances. Even if there’s reasonable doubt any of the people involved were serious about following through, it’s not OK, period. We do not like writing headlines like these where the fans themselves put themselves, and the industry, in a bad light.
