Home
Wearables
Wearables News
Oculus VR Acquires Eye Tribe for Eye Tracking Software

Oculus VR Acquires Eye Tribe for Eye-Tracking Software

By Sarah Frier, Bloomberg | Updated: 29 December 2016 09:40 IST

Facebook's Oculus has acquired The Eye Tribe, a company that tracks eye movement in virtual reality to improve the experience.

Oculus confirmed the acquisition of the Copenhagen-based startup, without stating a price. The acquisition was reported earlier Wednesday by TechCrunch.

Eye Tribe is the latest in a series of tech acquisitions this year for Oculus. Facebook is especially interested in eye tracking because the company wants to take the lead in social interactions in VR. The ability to follow eye movement makes it easier to understand people's expressions and let them communicate effectively with each other in a virtual world.

For example, Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg is interested in helping people watch basketball games together, have board meetings, travel to foreign countries and take selfies in virtual reality.

Facebook isn't alone in focusing on the importance of eye tracking to VR. Alphabet Inc.'s Google acquired Eyefluence, another startup working on eye-tracking technology, in October. The search giant is investing in virtual reality as it aims to integrate its media services, like YouTube and its app store, into the nascent technology.

Comments

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.