Oculus Founder Might Buy Vive From HTC, Price Cuts Cause Investor Concern

Palmer Luckey has been out of the limelight for months now, ever since his unceremonious booting from Oculus, the company he helped found. Now, the tech pariah is hinting that he might buy HTC’s VR business Vive, which is rumored to be going on the market soon. Is this his ticket back to fame and glory? Or will it only serve as his second downfall?

Luckey teased his intentions via Reddit post, where he hinted to his posse that he is thinking about buying Vive. The post caused quite a bit of confusion, with many thinking that he was thinking of buying a headset instead of the whole VR business. Luckey also coyly tagged Oculus in the post, perhaps a gesture of contempt or a signal for competition to come.

The group where he posted his query is made up of VR enthusiasts, many of whom already own either a Vive or a Rift, even both. The prospect does merit discussion, especially considering what kind of effect Luckey’s re-entry into the VR industry would entail.

As RollingStone notes, Luckey became the face of VR when the Rift first came out after a successful Kickstarter campaign that dates back all the way to 2012. Unfortunately, after a series of scandals involving the tech figure’s involvement with the Trump campaign as well as allegations involving stolen technology, things went downhill for the Oculus founder.

Not only was Luckey kicked out of the company he helped build, he was also treated as a pariah within the tech industry. With HTC’s financial troubles, however, he might finally find a way back to the community’s good graces.

On the matter of struggling VR companies, the recent price cuts implemented by both HTC and Oculus have caused a ripple of concern among investors. Fortunately, it would seem that the market is holding relatively steady, The Motley Fool reports. Adoption is still slow, but this was always to be expected.