MANILA, Philippines – Facebook announced Tuesday, March 25, that it had reached an agreement to acquire Oculus VR for US$2 billion (P90.1 billion).

Oculus VR makes the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset, along with the system’s development kits, which have earned around 75,000 orders.

In a press release, Facebook noted, “While the applications for virtual reality technology beyond gaming are in their nascent stages, several industries are already experimenting with the technology, and Facebook plans to extend Oculus’ existing advantage in gaming to new verticals, including communications, media and entertainment, education and other areas.”

“Given these broad potential applications,” Facebook added, “virtual reality technology is a strong candidate to emerge as the next social and communications platform.”

On a statement on Oculus VR’s blog, the Oculus team called the partnership “one of the most important moments for virtual reality.” The partnership will allow the team to focus on “solving hard engineering challenges and delivering the future of VR” and publishing made-for-VR content while reducing the risks on Oculus as a company.

This agreement “includes $400 million in cash and 23.1 million shares of Facebook common stock (valued at $1.6 billion based on the average closing price of the 20 trading days preceding March 21, 2014 of $69.35 per share).” The agreement also notes earn-out opportunities of up to an additional $300 million based on milestone achievements.

The transaction is expected to by completed in the second quarter of 2014.

Watch a developer overview of the Oculus Rift below:

– Rappler.com