How a crowdfunded prototype in a garage became the company that put VR in millions of homes.
The Kickstarter that started it all
In 2012, Palmer Luckey launched a Kickstarter for the Oculus Rift, a VR headset built from parts he'd hacked together. Backed by industry legend John Carmack, it raised $2.4 million and reignited a dream the tech world had abandoned in the 1990s.
The Facebook acquisition
In 2014, Facebook bought Oculus for around $2 billion, a deal that stunned the games industry and signalled that VR was being taken seriously as the next computing platform. Development accelerated, and the consumer Rift (CV1) finally shipped in 2016.
Cutting the cord: Quest
The 2018 Oculus Go dipped a toe into standalone VR, but it was the 2019 Oculus Quest that changed everything: full 6DoF tracking with no PC, no wires and no sensors. The 2020 Quest 2 then became the best-selling VR headset of all time.
Becoming Meta
In 2021, Facebook rebranded as Meta to reflect its bet on the 'metaverse,' and the Oculus brand was retired in favour of Meta Quest. Today the Quest 3 and 3S carry that lineage forward, with mixed reality as the next frontier.
Why the history matters
Understanding this arc explains why the Quest line is so dominant: a decade of iteration, billions invested, and a relentless focus on making VR cheap and wireless enough for everyone.