Earlier today, Bethesda announced that a special virtual reality version of Fallout 4 was coming to the HTC Vive. Which seemed a weird thing to say, since not many games are ever announced just for that particular VR platform.
Only, this is Bethesda and Oculus Rift we’re talking about here. And in case you forgot, there is some bad blood.
Bethesda is owned by Zenimax. And last year, Zenimax sued Oculus Rift for “illegally misappropriating ZeniMax trade secrets relating to virtual reality technology, and infringing ZeniMax copyrights and trademarks.”
At the centre of the lawsuit is an accusation that Doom co-creator John Carmack provided technology and information to Oculus before he left id Software (a ZeniMax subsidiary) for the virtual reality company in 2014.
It’s a case which Oculus called “silly” and “money-grabbing” and which is still ongoing, so yeah, if you’re wondering why the game wasn’t announced for the Oculus Rift alongside the Vive, this is probably your answer.
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9 responses to “Fallout 4, Oculus Rift And Some Bad Blood”
I was wondering this very thing and yeah I remember that!
it is ridiculous, considering if its available for vive, its available for rift…unless vive goes with their own drm.
You don’t need DRM. You just Taylor the experience for the Vive controllers and roomscale. Yes, you may be able to play it on the rift, but with a compromised experience. That is still a win for the Vive. Oculus screwed over both Bethesda and Valve by taking intellectual property and high level staff members. I am sure they will make it barely playable on the rift, and to be honest, the way Facebook/Oculus have behaved they totally deserve it.
Alternatively, they want motion controls in the port and the Rift doesn’t have Touch yet.
*Sigh*. The FO4 VR port isn’t set to arrive until 2017. Touch will be out by then.
Great, makes me wish I didn’t buy an oculus, the thing already makes me sick by limiting natural movements and now vice is actually getting real games, that’s a slap in the face.
Wouldn’t surprise me if Carmack did leak the tech and then jump ship, if the portrayal of his personality and motivations set out in Masters of Doom is accurate then the shoe fits here very nicely.
Tbh, I’m perfectly fine with anything that fucks over Occulus, just mostly with how they’ve acted since being acquired by FB.
I always thought that Carmack’s research while still at iD was shared amongst the VR community, certainly with people at Valve as well as Occulus. Zenimax only sued once 2 billion dollars came into the mix.
Also, maybe the choice to go with Vive is technical related rather than legally motivated. Maybe they want to be able to make use of the lighthouse setup? If it is legally motivated (and Bethesda haven’t made a mess of the integration with Vive), once the lawsuit is settled, they should be able to easily integrate the Occulus api later to add support.