Oculus

Oculus is a brand of virtual reality hardware and software products owned by Meta Platforms. It originated as Oculus VR LLC, founded in 2012 by Palmer Luckey in Irvine, California. The company released the Oculus Rift development kit and later the consumer Rift, helping to popularize virtual reality for consumers. In 2014 Facebook announced its intent to acquire Oculus VR for about $2 billion, and the acquisition closed later that year. The purchase positioned virtual reality as a strategic priority for Facebook, which later rebranded as Meta Platforms.

Oculus broadened its lineup from tethered PC VR headsets to standalone devices with the Oculus Quest family, starting with Quest in 2019 that combined inside-out tracking with untethered use. Quest 2 followed in 2020, offering higher resolution and a lighter form factor, with subsequent models such as Quest Pro designed for more advanced uses. In 2023 Meta released Meta Quest 3, extending the standalone line with improved displays, processing, and tracking. The Oculus brand has since been integrated into the Meta Quest branding for newer devices, while the Oculus Store and platform continue to support existing hardware.

The software ecosystem includes the Oculus Store for applications and games, the Oculus app on PC for device management, and PC VR features such as Link and Air Link to connect Quest devices to a computer. Developers support Oculus hardware via the Oculus SDK, Unity, Unreal, and OpenXR for broader VR compatibility. Oculus has played a significant role in shaping consumer VR markets and content ecosystems.