So when Mashable reached out developers to find out their thoughts on the announcement, it wasn't surprising to see a healthy mix of responses.

Validating virtual reality

"For some time I was worried the Rift would end up as yet another peripheral only hardcore players own, but that seems less likely now," said Sergio Hidalgo, developer of chilling Oculus Rift horror game Dreadhalls. "I don't believe much will change in the short- or medium-term for indie devs like myself — if anything, Oculus having more resources could bring positive news!"

Hidalgo's sentiments were echoed by many. Virtual reality is a hard prospect to introduce to more casual consumers; right now the headsets look out of a science fiction movie, and they aren't comfortable to wear for long periods of time.

"I decided to get into this space because I believe VR has huge potential to redefine gaming, entertainment, and communication. It is something I have been saying since the start of the Oculus Kickstarter. With the acquisition by Facebook, I feel very validated. I was just joking with Jared that we've felt a little like guys on the streets with sandwich boards yelling 'The day of VR is coming! REPENT!' Now we are starting to seem a little less crazy," said Forest Gibson, an Oculus Developer working on a game titled Giant vs. Horde.

"Facebook's acquisition validates the vision that we are on the verge of the next major platform shift in computing. It's clear that it's no longer a question of if virtual reality will happen, it's just a matter of when. And when it does emerge, it will fundamentally transform entertainment and communication," said Danfung Dennis, who is currently directing the first virtual reality movie for the Oculus Rift, called Zero Point.

But Facebook isn't a gaming company

Some of the biggest concerns from developers surrounded Facebook's history with games. While the platform is known for social games like FarmVille and Candy Crush Saga, it hasn't had as much success with less-casual fare.

"I can see how Oculus could've benefited from a partnership with Facebook, as they always had problems appealing to the mainstream market. But that's where it should've ended, in a partnership, not an acquisition," said Janina Woods, game designer at Zurich-based Ateo. "Facebook brings a large user base, a lot of options to market the headset and potentially a lot of funds to produce the consumer version headset. When they are talking about social VR, all I can see is 'Second Life: Oculus Edition.'

"But where my problem really lies is that this goes against all Oculus has been standing for so far. They have always said they care only about gaming and developing their headset for gamers. This is what made the system so great, because they didn't care about multimedia, like all the other headsets out there. Other big players realised the potential of a gaming-only VR headset and are now trying to get in on that. For me, Facebook potentially managing the Oculus development is leading it in the wrong direction."

Mediocre Studios co-founder Dennis Gustafsson, whose game Smash Hit is currently number 3 on the iTunes Free Games charts, said the news made them rethink their plans to bring the game to the Oculus platform despite having a working prototype.

"Being a small team, every new platform is a big investment for us, so we need to choose carefully. We’re not convinced Facebook has a strong incentive to be a driving force in VR gaming. This might be a good chance for the competing VR firms to step up and take the lead in gaming," Gustafsson said.

"People have a good reason to have a knee-jerk reaction. Facebook's history with games is ugly. Like, really ugly and really gross," said game developer Robin Arnott, who is currently working on sensory experience game SoundSelf for the Oculus Rift. "But the nice thing about VR is that bullshit just doesn't fly very well on it. I think what people are worried about is Oculus becoming a platform for games of the soulless-microtransaction-variety. And that's just not gonna happen because there's too much high-quality, high-production-value content already being produced for Oculus."

The potential of the platform

Arnott's point is something many other developers, especially those who were working on technology that worked along with the Oculus Rift, were excited about. Virtual reality has the potential to work as a communication and entertainment platform on many levels.

"I'm mostly wary of the influence such a huge company like Facebook can have in day-to-day decisions Oculus can make. But at the same time I can't help but be very curious on what a huge budget can bring to the table in making VR an actual accessible mass product that drives innovation forwards in environments other than gaming," said developer Fernando Ramallo, who created a musical virtual reality environment for Oculus called Komorebi.

"I'm also very scared of it becoming the next bubble for horrible moneymakers and virtual reality being associated by the general public with blood-sucking money scams. But I guess it'll be up to the creators to prove people that's not the case."

Jan Goetgeluk, CEO of virtual reality treadmill Virtuix Omni said gaming is just "scratching the surface of virtual reality's potential."

"You could think of applications beyond gaming, virtual activities, social activities, courtside seats at sports event. You can physically walk around, fitness applications, tourism applications. We see Oculus as a great piece of that, but we want to transport the mind and a body to a totally different space, where you are in it and walking and moving."

Goetgeluk said his company has previously been contacted by those in the tourism, healthcare, and training businesses to see if virtual reality might be a fit, and that was before the Facebook acquisition of Oculus.

"With big players entering the space, virtual reality is here to stay this time. It's not a niche, and not just for hardcore gamers. We believe its good for VR now that a mass-market audience has been made aware of virtual reality, and this will at establish it as a mass-market medium."

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