Virtual reality firm Oculus VR announced today that it has acquired Carbon Design, the product development studio that built the Xbox 360 controller for Microsoft.
Oculus said it hopes to close the deal by the end of summer. Carbon Design will remain in its Seattle offices and work closely with the Oculus R&D team in nearby Redmond.
Interestingly, Oculus revealed that it has been working with Carbon Design on “multiple unannounced projects” for over a year.
Carbon Design will help Oculus fill a major gap in its strategy as it moves toward the consumer version of its Oculus Rift headset. Oculus has yet to announce the input method that will ship with the Rift. Presumably, Carbon Design has been working with Oculus to come up with its own custom controller.
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In the long term, Oculus’ vision for VR will benefit from more advanced input schemes like Control VR’s motion capture glove, but it’s probably better off going with a familiar controller for its initial launch.
Oculus has been on a hiring spree as it uses its new cash to assemble a dream team. Recent hires include Jason Holtman, the creator of Steam and Jason Rubin, the co-founder of hit gaming studio Naughty Dog.
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