---
title: "Facebook Is Investing a Staggering $3 Billion in Virtual Reality"
description: "While testifying in a federal lawsuit on the origins of Facebook-owned VR company Oculus, Mark Zuckerberg said he plans to invest $3 billion in VR technology in the next decade. Zuckerberg hopes to make VR available to everyone, and with the tech being applied to many fields outside of gaming, that ubiquity may not be terribly far-fetched."
date: "2017-01-18"
modified: "2017-01-18"
authors:
  - name: "Dom Galeon"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/domgaleon"
url: "https://futurism.com/facebook-is-investing-a-staggering-3-billion-in-virtual-reality"
categories:
  - "Finance"
  - "Future Society"
  - "Investing"
  - "Virtual Reality"
tags:
  - "facebook"
  - "mark zuckerberg"
  - "oculus rift"
  - "virtual reality"
---

# Facebook Is Investing a Staggering $3 Billion in Virtual Reality

![facebook virtual reality oculus rift mark zuckerberg](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Facebook_is_Determined_to_Put_VR_Into_its_Platform.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/varna-bulgaria-march-10-2016-woman-408578668?src=6Pe5HEKno\_0wiILC1e7D8g-1-13" target="\_blank"\>Alexey Boldin / Shutterstock\</a\>\</em\>*

Facebook founder and CEO [Mark Zuckerberg](<https://futurism.com/?s=Mark+Zuckerberg>) announced that the company plans to invest more than $3 billion in the next 10 years to make virtual reality (VR) available on the platform, the *[New York Times](<https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/17/technology/mark-zuckerberg-oculus-trial-virtual-reality-facebook.html?_r=0>)* reports. The "announcement" was made in the unlikeliest of situations: while Zuckerberg was testifying in federal court as part of a $2 billion intellectual property lawsuit between [ZeniMax Media](<https://www.zenimax.com/>) and [VR](<https://futurism.com/?s=VR>) giant [Oculus](<https://www.oculus.com/>).

Facebook's acquisition of Oculus in March 2014 for $2 billion was the first step in Zuckerberg's VR play. Since then, his social networking company has been working on ways to make VR available on its platform, beginning integration in March 2016 despite [skepticism](<https://futurism.com/facebook-will-rolling-integration-oculus-platform>) from Oculus co-founder Palmer Luckey. Since then, not much has been said about the project, except for [the occasional demonstration](<https://www.cnet.com/news/facebook-mark-zuckerberg-shows-off-live-vr-virtual-reality-chat-with-oculus-rift/>) and those [VR emojis](<https://futurism.com/facebook-unveils-gesture-generated-virtual-reality-emojis>).

Zuckerberg's dreams of VR for everyone — everyone on Facebook, that is — could actually be a step in the right direction. While VR devices were initially built around gaming technology, applications have long since expanded into other fields. VR is changing [medical research](<https://futurism.com/htc-just-invested-9m-in-a-startup-that-uses-vr-to-improve-neurosurgery>), [military training](<https://futurism.com/armed-forces-using-combination-of-arvr-to-train-flight-medics>), and so much more. But essentially what virtual reality is doing is letting us see and interact with the world differently — be it by wandering [Google Earth](<https://futurism.com/tour-the-world-anytime-with-google-earth-vr>), viewing forests from an [animal's point of view](<https://futurism.com/this-vr-headset-lets-you-hear-and-see-nature-in-an-animals-perspective>), or even just test driving our future kitchens.

![Credits: Facebook](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/mark-zuckerberg-oculus-1.jpg>)
*Credits: Facebook*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/dominic-john-galeon-9b086925/>)  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/domgaleon>)