Facebook sells 3D virtual reality software Oculus Medium to Adobe

Facebook sells 3D virtual reality software Oculus Medium that allows game and filmmakers to model and paint in an immersive environment to Adobe

  • Facebook-owned Oculus Medium announced the sale to Adobe on Friday
  • Terms of the deal were not disclosed, but both firms expressed excitement 
  • Facebook bought tech and VR firm Oculus for $2billion in 2014 and launched Medium two years later
  • Medium allows users to sculpt, model and paint in an immersive environment and is used to create films and video games 

Facebook is selling its 3D virtual reality sculpting tool Oculus Medium to software giant Adobe.  

The social media giant bought tech and VR firm Oculus for $2billion in 2014 and launched Medium two years later. 

Oculus Medium operated separately from Facebook, which pumped large amounts of funding into the app that allows users to sculpt, model and paint in an immersive environment. The app, used to create films and video games, works exclusively on the PC-based Oculus Rift headset. 

Terms of the sale have not been disclosed, but both Medium and Adobe expressed excitement over the deal.

Facebook is selling its 3D virtual reality sculpting tool Oculus Medium to software giant Adobe

‘Adobe is one of the world’s leading creation software companies, and they’re committed to providing best-in-class 3D and immersive tools for artists, including Adobe Dimension and the Substance tools suite,’ Medium said in a blog post announcing the sale on Friday.  

‘Medium joining the Adobe family brings both new talent and technology to Adobe and solidifies Medium’s position as a premier sculpting application and professional tool.’ 

The statement added: ‘We absolutely could not have done this without the talent and energy from this amazing community. We’re incredibly excited for the next chapter.’

‘Medium has been a beacon of creativity in the virtual reality space, pushing creative and technical boundaries of 3D modeling,’ Adobe 3D and Immersive Vice President Sebastian Deguy said in a statement.  

Several members of the Oculus Medium team will be moving over to Adobe as part of the acquisition. 

‘We welcome this world of talented artists with great enthusiasm and will ensure continuity in the way they currently access and experience the tool,’ Deguy said. 

‘We can’t wait to work with this community to keep Medium growing and improving.’ 

Adobe has been ramping up efforts to cement itself among the top providers of virtual and augmented reality tools in recent months. 

At Adobe’s annual Max conference in November, the company unveiled Aero, a long-anticipated addition to Creative Cloud that will let users build and share their own augmented reality experiences. 

Aero will let users create their own custom AR experiences with a simple to use visual interface that relies on drag and drop controls and won’t require any advanced knowledge of programming. 

Last year, Adobe spent $6.43billion total to acquire Marketo and Magento, and has since expanded its mergers and acquisitions department.  

Adobe stock rose more than one percent on Friday following the Medium announcement. Shares closed at $306.23 — near the company’s 52-week high of $313.11.

Adobe has been ramping up efforts to cement itself among the top providers of virtual and augmented reality tools in recent months (file photo)

 Adobe has been ramping up efforts to cement itself among the top providers of virtual and augmented reality tools in recent months (file photo)

At Adobe's annual Max conference in November, the company unveiled Aero, a long-anticipated addition to Creative Cloud that will let users build and share their own augmented reality experiences

At Adobe’s annual Max conference in November, the company unveiled Aero, a long-anticipated addition to Creative Cloud that will let users build and share their own augmented reality experiences 

Analysts say the Medium deal could signal that Facebook is scaling back its VR efforts – or that Oculus intends to increase its focus on its other main 3D tool, Quill, which was relaunched in August.    

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg indicated at a September 2018 Oculus conference that his $2billion investment into the VR firm hadn’t gone quite as well as he’d expected. 

‘Last year we talked about how our long term goal is to get a billion people into virtual reality,’ Zuckerberg said at an event announcing the launch of the $399 Oculus Quest headset.

‘Let’s start off by checking in on how that’s going.’

He chuckled along with the audience as he shared a graph showing they were a scant one percent of the way to that goal – although did not reveal exactly how many headsets have been sold. 

‘Alright, we have this saying at Facebook that the journey is one percent finished – and in this case maybe not even quite. But I’m confident we’re going to get there.’

Facebook bought tech and VR firm Oculus for $2billion in 2014 and launched Medium in 2016. Analysts say the sale of Medium could signal that Facebook is scaling back its VR efforts

Facebook bought tech and VR firm Oculus for $2billion in 2014 and launched Medium in 2016. Analysts say the sale of Medium could signal that Facebook is scaling back its VR efforts 



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