Carmack full time with Oculus now (maybe or maybe not, okay yes definitely now)

[Stoney Mason]

and goes to Oculus.

 

By Robert Purchese Published Wednesday, 7 August 2013

John Carmack has left id Software to join Oculus VR, the company making Oculus Rift.

There he will take up his new role as chief technology officer.

"The dream of VR has been simmering in the background for decades, but now, the people and technologies are finally aligning to allow it to reach the potential we imagined," commented Carmack.

"I'm extremely excited to make a mark in what I truly believe will be a transformative technology."

It was John Carmack who announced Oculus Rift to the world at E3 in 2012, having acquired one to work with his own passion project Doom 3: BFG Edition.

[fistfulofmetal]

Oculus Rift

[brob]

Once Doom 4 releases and disappoints, I'll be ready to stop pretending.

[Stoney Mason]

UPDATE: Bethesda has just sent us an email to clarify Carmack’s position. A statement reads, “John has long been interested in the work at Oculus VR and wishes to spend time on that project. The technical leadership he provides for games in development at id Software is unaffected.”

He has not left id Software it seems. More as we have it.

The Penny Arcade Report has been able to clarify that Carmack begins working full time for Oculus today, but still has “ties” to id Software, according to Oculus PR. His role in the company he co-founded, if any, is unknown at this point. We'll be following up to see what we can find out about his relationship to the company.

UPDATE #3: A little more clarification from Bethesda. "John will spend time working out of Oculus as part of his role with them, but he will also continue to work at id."

 

[brob]

I was under the assumption that Carmack's position within id was overseeing and directing the engine development. I think it's likely that he will retain that position but be more hands-off and give more weight to the boots on the ground's opinion on matters.

He spoke about his position at Armadillo Airspace during his Quakecon keynote briefly this year mentioning how he didn't feel comfortable commanding too much since he wasn't full-time like some of the other people working there.

[Stoney Mason]

I think its pretty clear Carmack has been less interested in making games and more interested in tech and the Oculus in particular for a good long while now.

Bethesda probably doesn't like the idea of his name not being associated with id anymore because that gives them a lot of credibility. This feels like a negotiated title thing of yeah he's still with id but he really doesn't do any real work other than saying yeah that's cool or yeah that sucks.

[Great Rumbler]

I think its pretty clear Carmack has been less interested in making games and more interested in tech...for a good long while now.

Or rather, since the beginning?

[Stoney Mason]

Well he was never into the design part of gaming just more the engine side but he seems to have lost interest even in that aspect without a hot piece of technology attached to it. 

For what its worth its fairly common for engineers to not care at all about the game side of games. It was just unusual that the public face of a dev house was so tech driven rather than design or game driven which is generally more the norm.

[brob]

[Howard Alan Treesong]

(Image removed from quote.)

"Carmack, is it true you're quitting iD and joining Oculus as CTO?!"

[Eel O'Brian]

Nothing you have to wear on your face will ever break out of niche interest.

[cool breeze]

Well he was never into the design part of gaming just more the engine side but he seems to have lost interest even in that aspect without a hot piece of technology attached to it. 

For what its worth its fairly common for engineers to not care at all about the game side of games. It was just unusual that the public face of a dev house was so tech driven rather than design or game driven which is generally more the norm.

talking out of my ass here but I also don't think the engine and design are as interconnected as they once were.  Like, Doom couldn't have been Doom without the tech.  Rage probably didn't need id tech 5 to be Rage; the big 'change' there was the megatextures and no one cared.  But hearing Carmack talk about VR, he does go into the ways you need to design around and for VR.

[Pringo]

Nothing you have to wear on your face will ever break out of niche interest.

I'm not sure about that (depending on your definition of niche here). One big difference I see regarding the Rift versus something like Google Glass or the other wearable tech out there is that this is generally designed to be used in the privacy of one's home rather than out in public, at least for the time being.

[Yeti]

What is this thing, a color Virtual Boy?

[brob]

What is this thing, a color Virtual Boy?

with a fleshlight app.

[Phoenix Dark]

the game will allow you to have 3 hour virtual conversations with a digital version of Carmack while riding on a Taggart Transcontinental train.

[Stoney Mason]

John Carmack, co-founder and technical director at id Software, has left the company to focus his full-time attention on his role as chief technical officer at Oculus VR, according to a statement provided by id Software and Bethesda Softworks.

"John Carmack, who has become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id, has resigned from the studio," reads a statement from Tim Willits, studio director at id Software. "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."

"I wanted to remain a technical adviser for Id, but it just didn't work out," Carmack wrote on Twitter. "Probably for the best, as the divided focus was challenging."

Carmack, a programmer at id who co-created Wolfenstein 3D, Doom and Quake, also founded Armadillo Aerospace in 2000. He was an early evangelist of the Oculus Rift virtual reality headset and pledged support for the device in Doom 4.

Oculus VR announced Carmack's appointment as CTO earlier this year. At the time, Carmack was said to continue his duties at Quake and Doom developer id Software.

"John has long been interested in the work at Oculus VR and wishes to spend time on that project," Pete Hines, vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks said at the time. "The technical leadership he provides for games in development at id Software is unaffected."

Reached for comment, a spokesperson for Oculus VR had no comment other than to confirm that Carmack was working full-time at the company.

Carmack's resignation from id is the second high-profile departure at the developer this year. President and former CEO Todd Hollenshead left the studio this summer after 17 years with the company.

id Software shipped Doom 3 BFG Edition last year, and the company's most recent original title was 2011's Rage. The company announced it was developing Doom 4 in 2008, but after failing to meet internal expectations, the title underwent a major revision "that promises to meet the very high expectations everyone has for this game and this franchise."

At this year's Quakecon, where Doom 4 was once again a no-show, Willits told Polygon that "internally, we're much more focused" on the game.

And so finally everyone admits to what was obvious from the get go.

[Smooth Groove]

Hmm, I always thought of ID being Carmack's company like Gaben and Valve

[Great Rumbler]

Hmm, I always thought of ID being Carmack's company like Gaben and Valve

Not really. Carmack's always just wanted to fiddle with tech stuff and has always left the actual running of the company to somebody else.

[maxy]

Time of one man programmer stars is long gone.Not to mention he spend eternity on Rage  and delivered pretty meh engine.

[Rufus]

The engine wasn't Rage's problem.