John Carmack Left id Software Because He Couldn't Do VR Work There 146
An anonymous reader writes John Carmack left id Software last year, more than 20 years after he founded the company. There was a lot of speculation as to why, and now an interview at USA Today provides an explanation. Carmack had become Chief Technical Officer for Oculus VR a few months prior, and he was excited about bringing virtual reality gaming into the mainstream. Unfortunately, he couldn't get id Software's parent company, Zenimax, onboard. He'd hoped they would 'allow games he worked on to appear on the Oculus Rift headset. Had the deal been consummated, Wolfenstein: The New Order — an upcoming sequel to Wolfenstein 3D, an early id release — could have been part of the Oculus' tech demonstration that earned raves and awards at the recent Consumer Electronic Show.' Carmack said, 'But they couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate. When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any work on VR while at id software, I decided to not renew my contract.'"
Re:This was a good thing for gamers. (Score:3, Funny)
Third thing that was a constant at id: Carmack's ego.
Re:Timing Much ? (Score:5, Funny)
You couldn't even read the first phrase of the summary?
"John Carmack left id Software last year,"
Re:Timing Much ? (Score:4, Funny)
Am I the only one who finds interesting the fact that this article about why Carmack left a company 20 years ago, blaming Zenimax, comes out just at the moment the latest Zenimax game is ready to pre order ?
Seriously...
See, this is why I hate being a time traveler. I could have sworn I pre-ordered Wolfenstein: The New Order months ago but apparently it hasn't happened yet. This timey-wimey shit can be a real headache sometimes.
Re: Best of luck, John (Score:5, Funny)
Demons come from another plain of existence. A parallel dimension of destruction, evil, and despair. While they are 'alien' to humanity, not so much in the classical sense of other worldly creatures that originate in our universe.
I think you've confused middle management with lovecraftian horror beasts. It's okay though, the differences are subtle. Middle management consists of risk-averse middle-aged people who wouldn't know a good idea if it fell on their left foot. Lovecraftian horror beasts, on the other hand, are intelligent hunting critters that know their head from their ass.
Re:This was a good thing for gamers. (Score:2, Funny)
What about his super ego?
That left id years ago to found Ion Storm.
Re:Boo fucking hoo (Score:5, Funny)
Maybe the hurdle was not Zenimax, but Occulus. It's obvious to me that Zenimax should profit from such a deal, as VR is clearly the future. But it's not so obvious why Occulus should tie itself to a single publisher when it's them who's got the "killer app".
And if for some reason the problem was on Zenimax' side...
If John Carmack tells you to do something, you do it, bitch!