The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality
528The History of the Future: Oculus, Facebook, and the Revolution That Swept Virtual Reality
528Hardcover
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Overview
The dramatic, larger-than-life true story behind the founding of Oculus, its quest for virtual reality, and its founder's contentious battle for political freedom against Facebook, from the bestselling author of Console Wars (now a CBS All Access film).
In The History of the Future, Harris once again deep-dives into a tech drama for the ages to expertly tell the larger-than-life true story of Oculus, the virtual reality company founded in 2012 that—less than two years later—would catch the attention of Mark Zuckerberg and wind up being bought by Facebook for over $2 billion dollars.
This incredible underdog story begins with inventor Palmer Luckey, then just a nineteen-year-old dreamer, living alone in a camper trailer in Long Beach, California. At the time, virtual reality—long-hailed as the ultimate technology—was so costly and experimental that it was unattainable outside of a few research labs and military training facilities. But with the founding of Oculus, and the belief that his tantalizing vision of the future could one day be more than science fiction, Luckey put everything he had into creating a device that would allow gamers like him to step into virtual worlds and, in doing so, hopefully kickstart a VR revolution.
With the help of an industry legend, a serial entrepreneur, and a slew of colorful characters—including those behind gaming sensations like Doom, Words with Friends, and Guitar Hero—Luckey’s scrappy startup would finally deliver the dream of immersive and affordable virtual reality to consumers, leading geeks and gamers to be excited in a way that they hadn’t been in years, and tech firms and investors scrambling to get in on the action before it was too late.
Over the course of three years (and with unprecedented access from Oculus and Facebook), Harris conducted hundreds of interviews with key players in the VR revolution—including Luckey, his partners, and their cult of dreamers—to weave together a rich, cinematic narrative that captures the breakthroughs, breakdowns, and human drama of trying to change the world. The result is a supremely accessible, entertaining look at the birth of a new multi-billion-dollar industry; one full of heroes, villains, and twists at every corner. Take, for instance, Harris’ own discovery while writing this story. When he started this endeavor, he had no idea that this tale would somehow involve Donald Trump, billion-dollar lawsuits, illegal practices, and end with Luckey—eventually ousted from Facebook—as one of the most polarizing figures in Silicon Valley.
Product Details
ISBN-13: | 9780062455963 |
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Publisher: | HarperCollins |
Publication date: | 02/19/2019 |
Pages: | 528 |
Sales rank: | 1,101,275 |
Product dimensions: | 5.90(w) x 8.70(h) x 1.80(d) |
About the Author
Table of Contents
Foreword Ernest Cline xi
Author's Note xix
Prologue 1
Part 1 The Revolution Virtual 5
Chapter 1 The Boy Who Lived to Mod 7
Chapter 2 Carmack the Magnificent 22
Chapter 3 A Tale of Two Trade Shows 32
Chapter 4 The Scaleform Mafia 40
Chapter 5 STK 57
Chapter 6 Pivots, Prototypes, and Partnerships 70
Chapter 7 Freedom Is Happiness 76
Chapter 8 That Fateful Promise 84
Chapter 9 Mount Up 94
Chapter 10 Valve! 114
Chapter 11 Kicrstarter 130
Part 2 How to Build a Company 141
Chapter 12 The King of Pop Software 143
Chapter 13 Showtime 152
Chapter 14 The Anomalies 160
Chapter 15 The Hong Kong Shuffle 178
Chapter 16 Just Kids 189
Chapter 17 Oculus vs. Ouya 198
Chapter 18 Good, Better, and Best at the 2013 CES 205
Chapter 19 Proverbs 29, Verse 18 229
Chapter 20 Wall-To-Wall Drama 242
Chapter 21 GDC 261
Part 3 The Good Old Days 267
Chapter 22 Move Slow and Build Things (Aka Facebook 2.0) 269
Chapter 23 Nine Stories 273
Chapter 24 The Future of Gaming 284
Chapter 25 Andrew Reisse 289
Chapter 26 Ideas So Crazy They Just Might 295
Chapter 27 The Room 307
Chapter 28 Jockeying for Position 312
Chapter 29 Zuckerbro Intrigued 324
Chapter 30 Blue's Clues 336
Chapter 31 The Backlash 352
Chapter 32 The New Normal 358
Chapter 33 Enter HTC 366
Chapter 34 Out of the Woodwork 368
Chapter 35 Charging Forward 373
Chapter 36 Canaries in the Coal Mine 379
Part 4 Politics 387
Chapter 37 Twelve Days in 2015 389
Chapter 38 Awaken the Sleeping Giants 400
Chapter 39 Lockdown 408
Chapter 40 Entitlement Checks 416
Chapter 41 The Devil is in the Details 431
Chapter 42 Nimble 443
Chapter 43 Internet Drama 447
Chapter 44 The Daily Beast 454
Chapter 45 Exile 473
Chapter 46 The Heist, the Comedy and the Fantasy vs. the Documentary 488
Chapter 47 The Verdict 506
Chapter 48 The Seemingly Impossible Challenge 512
Chapter 49 Employee Number One 521
Chapter 50 He's Back 527
Epilogue 535
Acknowledgments 557
Notes 559