Facebook Exec Talks Future Of VR Days After Tone-Deaf Puerto Rico Tour

It seems that the backlash that Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his team of virtual reality engineers got after shamelessly taking advantage of Puerto Rico’s suffering was not enough to deter them from their quest to become VR overlords. Zuckerberg is still trying to flood the world with VR headsets and a Facebook executive recently talked about the company’s plans for the technology.

During the recent Oculus Connect event, the Facebook founder said that he wants one billion people to start using VR. He provided no timeline as to when he wants this to happen, but with his investment in Oculus, Zuckerberg has a lot riding on the technology catching on.

The company is even planning on launching a $199 VR headset. At that price, it would be a lot more accessible to the mass consumer market, especially if the promise that it won’t require high-end PCs is real.

To shed light on Facebook’s plans for the future of VR, the company’s head of social VR Rachel Franklin recently spoke to The Verge. The social media executive provided details on a software framework called Spaces, which will power the company’s VR social space. She even commented on the backlash that they received after Zuckerberg’s callous treatment of the suffering of Puerto Ricans.

“Our goal was to show how VR can raise awareness and help us see what's happening in different parts of the world. We also wanted to share the news of our partnership with the Red Cross and Net Hope to help with recovery in Puerto Rico,” Franklin said. “After reading some of the comments and hearing from the community, we realize our intention to demonstrate empathy from within VR didn’t come across, and we’re sorry to anyone this offended.

As to what Facebook intends to do with its VR social space, Franklin provided examples like meeting in virtual space if users are unable to be in the same physical location. This would certainly make it useful for meetings or catch up with friends.