John Carmack leaves id Software

Co-founder and id Software technical director has resigned from the company after 17 years. A statement from studio director Tim Willits read as follows:

"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."

The split has been hanging in the air for a while since John Carmack decided to join Oculus VR as their Chief Technical Officer. At that time it was said that Carmack's role at id Software would be unaffected, but obviously the man only has so much time to spread between work places (he also has rockets to work on at Armadillo Aerospace).

Carmack took to Twitter to comment on matters:

"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."

"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. :-)"