As Amazon looks to stamp its footprint beyond the Seattle area, Oculus is making further inroads into the Pacific Northwest’s major tech hub. As reported by Seattle-based tech site GeekWire, local real estate sources say that the Facebook-owned virtual reality company is in the market for a 200,000-square-foot R&D space in nearby Redmond, which already houses some Oculus research efforts. Multiple real estate sources also suggested that Oculus is eyeing a 500,000- to 1 million-square-foot space for an additional Seattle area office.
On its job postings site, Oculus lists more than 60 Redmond-based research positions, for a total of more than 100 open positions in Redmond alone, and an additional six openings in Seattle proper — numbers that suggest that Oculus is making a major expansion in Redmond and possibly consolidating its offices in Seattle.
In 2015, the company moved into a 51,000-square-foot space in Seattle’s Stadium Innovation Center. This summer, Oculus reportedly leased an additional slightly smaller office across the street in Seattle’s SoDo neighborhood.
“We recently shared our vision to get 1 billion people into VR, and we’re growing the Oculus team in Seattle to help make that happen,” an Oculus spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We’re excited about the talent and growth in Seattle, and welcome engineering, product, and hardware experts who want to join us!”
With Microsoft’s HoloLens operations around the corner in Redmond, Valve nearby in Bellevue and a number of smaller VR companies making inroads in the region, the greater Seattle area is shaping up to be a major hub for the VR industry.