Following the surprise announcement Tuesday that Facebook had purchased Oculus VR for $2 billion, positive and negative comments flowed forth from social media. Oculus VR vice president Nate Mitchell said in a new interview with Game Informer that he expected to get some heat from its core fans over the deal, but said he was surprised by the outpouring of negativity from the community at large.

“We assumed that the reaction would be negative, especially from our core community,” Mitchell said. “Beyond our core community, we expected it would be positive. I don’t think we expected it to be so negative.”

In the time that’s passed, Mitchell said he’s already starting to see the conversation on Twitter and Reddit “swinging back the opposite direction.” He stressed that it’s up to Oculus VR to educate people on why the deal makes sense and should be considered a good thing.

21-year-old Oculus Rift creator Palmer Luckey has been busy doing just that. Immediately following the announcement of the acquisition, he answered dozens of questions on Reddit about privacy concerns and what the deal means for the future of Oculus. For more on the Oculus VR/Facebook deal, check out editorials from GameSpot editors Tom McShea and Peter Brown.