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John Carmack resigns from id Software, focuses on Oculus VR

The gaming legend is stepping down from the company he co-founded to pour all his energies into Oculus VR.

Joe Svetlik Reporter
Joe has been writing about consumer tech for nearly seven years now, but his liking for all things shiny goes back to the Gameboy he received aged eight (and that he still plays on at family gatherings, much to the annoyance of his parents). His pride and joy is an Infocus projector, whose 80-inch picture elevates movie nights to a whole new level.
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Joe Svetlik
2 min read

It's the end of a gaming era. John Carmack, the man behind Doom and Quake, has resigned from id Software, the company he co-founded 22 years ago. But games fans needn't worry, he's not retiring. Rather, he wants to focus on Oculus VR.

Oculus VR is the company behind the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset. Carmack became chief technical officer of Oculus VR in August, and now will be able to dedicate all his efforts to making virtual reality gaming an actual reality.

id Software's studio director Tim Willits announced Carmack's departure in a statement sent to us. It reads: "John Carmack, who has become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id, has resigned from the studio. John's work on id Tech 5 and the technology for the current development work at id is complete, and his departure will not affect any current projects.

"We are fortunate to have a brilliant group of programmers at id who worked with John and will carry on id's tradition of making great games with cutting-edge technology. As colleagues of John for many years, we wish him well."

Carmack said in a tweet: "I wanted to remain a technical adviser for id, but it just didn't work out. Probably for the best, as the divided focus was challenging."

But it sounds like he's not severing his ties with id completely. He might be back at the company's annual Quakecon event next summer. He tweeted: "If they don't want me to talk on stage at Quakecon next year, we'll just have to fill up the lobby like the old days. :-)"

Carmack has said the Oculus Rift's future lies with Android, Google's mobile operating system. This would mean it effectively works as a standalone console. Though you would still tether it to your desktop PC to play more processor-hungry games.

Carmack has acknowledged the Oculus Rift needs work done on its head tracking, so that gamers don't feel sick when they use it.

Let's hope he can sort it out now he's not straddling two companies. Are you looking forward to the Oculus Rift? Let me know in the comments, or strap on your headset and get yourself over to our Facebook page.

Image credit: Oculus VR