Facebook’s Oculus acquires eye-tracking company The Eye Tribe

Oculus, a virtual reality company, was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion.

Facebook-owned Oculus has acquired The Eye Tribe, a company that builds eye-tracking software for consumer devices. Oculus has confirmed the acquisition to Tech Crunch but hasn’t revealed details of the same. The Eye Tribe is a 16-member start-up founded in 2007. “The ambition was to make eye tracking accessible for everyone,” reads company’s site.

Oculus, a virtual reality company, was acquired by Facebook in 2014 for $2 billion. Oculus has not shared specific plans on how it would use The Eye Tribe’s technology. However, we could see Oculus integrate eye-tracking software to its Rift VR headset, allowing users to control actions by moving their eyes.

The Eye Tribe announced its multi-platform eye tracking solution for VR applications at CES 2016. The eye-tracking technology was launched on platforms such as Windows and Android for OEMs to integrate the same in their VR headsets.

Oculus recently has rolled out two new features – Parties and Rooms – for Samsung Gear VR. The features will be available for Rift in 2017. Parties and Rooms enable users feel that that same ‘sense of presence with other people’ in VR. Friends on VR can easily be found by linking your Facebook and Oculus accounts. You can search people using their real names or Oculus names as well.