Presenting a reality that’s probably not quite as virtual as they might possibly like, Facebook and its Oculus subsidiary have been hit with more than $500 million in damages in a lawsuit. According to Variety, a judge has ordered the companies to pay the damages to video game publisher ZeniMax Media, who successfully argued that Oculus executives broke their non-disclosure agreements with the company.
Facebook and Oculus actually got off pretty cheap; ZeniMax was asking for as much as $4 billion, and alleging that Oculus’ John Carmack and Palmer Luckey stole intellectual property from the Skyrim and Fallout company when they set out to create the Oculus VR headset. The jury threw most of those charges out, focusing on the NDAs instead, and ordering Oculus to pay $300 million, while Luckey and Carmack will pay $150 million apiece. Facebook is appealing the charges, but even if they get stuck with the bill, it’s not like it’s going to break the company’s coffers. According to another Variety report today, the social media giant posted profits of $10 billion in 2016.