John Carmack, co-founder of Id Software, has joined Oculus Rift as their chief technical officer (CTO). The industry veteran left Id Software following the recent QuakeCon.
"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." said John Carmack, CTO of Oculus and cofounder of id Software. "I'm extremely excited to make a mark in what I truly believe will be a transformative technology."
"To build the best virtual reality experience, we're putting together a team of the brightest minds, and John Carmack is at the top of the list. It's a true honor," said Brendan Iribe, cofounder and CEO, Oculus. "A pioneer of 2D, 3D, and now VR, John continues to define the future of computer graphics and gaming. We share John's commitment to providing the world with open platforms that inspire innovation and creation."
Of course, Carmack has been involved with the Oculus Rift initiative since early on and it was he who first demoed the hardware with Doom 3 at E3 2012.
Update: Actually it turns out Carmack has not left Id Software at all. He will continue on in his role at Id Software, a role that Bethesda claims is "unaffected". Apparently Carmack has been cloned to perform two full-time jobs, but he is a bit of a phenom so it's not all that surprising.