The Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the American antitrust authority, has launched an in-depth investigation into the takeover by Meta (an entity bringing together the activities of the Facebook group) of the virtual reality start-up Within, according to an article by The Information published December 16. Facebook’s parent company announced the operation, valued at $ 400 million, at the end of October.
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This is the first investigation opened by the FTC into the buyouts of Meta in the world of virtual reality. As usual, the company of Mark Zuckerberg has been voracious by buying five start-ups for Oculus Studio before Within: Beat Games, at the origin of Beat Saber, at the end of 2019, Sanzaru and Ready at Dawn in 2020 and in 2021 Downpour Interactive and BigBox VR.
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Until now, the price of these acquisitions was too low to attract the attention of the FTC, this is no longer the case with the surprisingly high cost of Within. The start-up was founded in 2014 under the name Vrse, already to create immersive virtual reality experiences.
It is under her new name, Within, modified two years after its founding, that in April 2020 she released her great success, the virtual reality fitness application Supernatural. The pandemic context has contributed to the success of this service, available only on Oculus Quest and Oculus Quest 2.
The FTC is vigilant in the emerging virtual reality market
Meta is already in a position of domination in the nascent virtual reality market. Sony, Valve, and HTC appear next. Since 2014 Mark Zuckerberg is convinced that it is the future of the Web, the change of Facebook name shows that he has not changed his mind.
The FTC, in order not to risk being caught off guard, is probably looking to send a message, and intends to keep a watchful eye on the industry. However, she is already very busy with Meta, especially with its ongoing investigations since August on the takeover of Instagram and WhatsApp by Facebook.
This message from the FTC could derail the operation undertaken by Meta concerning Within. In the event that the investigation does not lead to a buyout ban, the process risks delaying its realization for a long year.
As it turns out, another big tech company is eyeing the start-up, Apple. It’s no longer a secret, the apple brand aims to invest in the virtual reality sector with its own headset. Meta can expect to see a very serious competitor emerge in 2022.