Oculus VR has acquired the company behind the Xbox 360 controller

Oculus VR, Facebook’s virtual reality gaming headset company, has announced that it has acquired Carbon Design. Based in Seattle, Washington, Carbon Design is known for its exquisite consumer electronics designs and product engineering. The Carbon Design team will operate from its studio in Seattle and work closely with the Oculus R&D team in Redmond, Washington following the acquisition. The deal is expected to close in the summer. Carbon designed numerous devices like the Xbox 360 controller, a racing wheel controller and the original Microsoft Kinect. Oculus VR and Carbon Design have been collaborating for more than a year on multiple unannounced projects. Peter Bristol, the creative director of Carbon, is excited to join Oculus because he believes that virtual reality is open to innovation. “This is an entirely open product category,” said Bristol in a blog post. “With consumer VR at its inception, the physical architectures are still unknown — We’re on the cutting edge of defining how virtual reality looks, feels, and functions. We’re incredibly excited to be part of the team and we’re looking forward to helping design the future.” Facebook acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion in March. In the acquisition announcement, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that Oculus will become a platform for many other experiences aside from gaming. “Imagine enjoying a court side seat at a game, studying in a classroom of students and teachers all over the world or consulting with a doctor face-to-face — just by putting on goggles in your home,” said Zuckerberg in a Facebook status about the acquisition.