​

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

 

[FAST6191]

The FTC manages to wake itself up over this? My my.

While I resent them sticking their beak into something as banal and irrelevant as this (my lack of fondness for facebook and their VR efforts vis a vis DRM is far from undocumented but I can in no way see this resulting in a stranglehold worthy of them crying monopoly) I can see an upside here if this either acts as them getting a slap or being timid enough that even more other players might arise with my only concern being it setting a precedent.

I would however be curious to see who is gunning for them such that they set the FTC on them. Maybe there will be an amicus brief at some point to give some idea, though it is potentially of marginal interest that the new york times board (I don't know if the link here was first and have not checked) features a C level from Reality Labs (the original makers of Oculus).

I do also wonder if this means the government thinks this time is actually the time for VR and it is not due another implosion to wait for tech to catch up.

 

[hippy dave]

Yeah idk how necessary this is, but on the positive side, fuck Facebook

 

[tech3475]

I still wish Valve would step in to the budget/'painfully priced' VR segment to give some more competition.

 

[HomebrewingNeko]

original image:

 

[Xzi]

Good, their DRM on hardware/walled garden account system needs to fucking go. It's strangling modern VR in its crib.

 

[TraderPatTX]

FTC is a little late to the party as usual. Where were they when telecom and airlines were merging and buying up competitors?

 

[Bladexdsl]

just get rid of VR completely than there won't be a monopoly

 

[Deleted member 114266]

I still wish Valve would step in to the budget/'painfully priced' VR segment to give some more competition.

We'll see when/if/how much this comes out for.

https://uploadvr.com/valve-deckard-standalone-wireless-headset-reports/

 

[Viri]

Anything that fucks over big tech is a good thing. Hopefully the FTC actually does something this time.

 

[HarveyHouston]

Meta already IS a monopoly! Stopping this acquisition isn't going to make them less so.

 

[Zajumino]

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.​

Correct me if I'm wrong, but does this imply that Beat Saber and Supernatural make up the majority of VR games that people buy?

Maybe I'm just overthinking the wording here.

 

[KitChan]

I had no idea Meta owned Beat Saber.

Well, that's another one for the avoid list.

 

[LainaGabranth]

There is no greater joy I could be brought than to see Facebook as a company die in a fire, and with heavy legal regulations preventing any company from ever amassing even half as much information as they have.

 

[Axido]

Guess I'm trolled.

However, there could be competition in the market if the competition at least wanted to compete. The Steam Deck has shown that Valve can be competitive when it comes to selling hardware. Now if they also believed in the demand for a standalone SteamVR headset, they could easily win over a lot of Oculus users that would gladly jump ship if given the opportunity.

 

[LainaGabranth]

Guess I'm trolled.

However, there could be competition in the market if the competition at least wanted to compete. The Steam Deck has shown that Valve can be competitive when it comes to selling hardware. Now if they also believed in the demand for a standalone SteamVR headset, they could easily win over a lot of Oculus users that would gladly jump ship if given the opportunity.

I actually don't even care about VR (beyond thinking the DRM shit is absolutely unacceptable and should be legally prevented from being a thing) but Facebook as a company has so much fucking info on people, even without their consent and knowledge, that the company absolutely has to die for the sake of user privacy.

 

[nikeymikey]

I had no idea Meta owned Beat Saber.

Well, that's another one for the avoid list.

Juist pirate it instead

 

[subcon959]

I actually don't even care about VR (beyond thinking the DRM shit is absolutely unacceptable and should be legally prevented from being a thing) but Facebook as a company has so much fucking info on people, even without their consent and knowledge, that the company absolutely has to die for the sake of user privacy.

Seems to me that certain agencies would quite like to keep them afloat to have access to that information without having to do the dirty work themselves.

 

[Ondrashek06]

What they SHOULD finally stop is the collection of literally everything possible about you ranging from full legal name to your credit scores, social security numbers, 3D scans of faces...

But they won't, they actively support that.

 

[pokota]

FTC is a little late to the party as usual. Where were they when telecom and airlines were merging and buying up competitors?

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