Meta loses virtual reality virtuoso John Carmack

Companies • December 17, 2022, 5:29AM EST
  The Block

Quick Take

  • The virtual reality and gaming industry leader has resigned as consulting CTO at Meta. 
  • Carmack shared that he has “wearied of the fight” in a Facebook post.

John Carmack, a virtual reality trailblazer and co-founder of video game developer id Software, has resigned as consulting chief technology officer at Meta. 

“We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort,” Carmack wrote in a Facebook post, sharing his internal message to the Meta team after it was leaked. “There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”

He added: “I wearied of the fight and have my own startup to run.”

Carmack joined VR hardware and software producer Oculus in 2013, before it was acquired by Meta (then Facebook) the following year. He reduced his role to consulting CTO in 2019 to invest more time in his Keen Technologies startup, focusing on artificial intelligence.

Carmack is known for developing many video games, including Doom, Quake, Wolfenstein 3D and Commander Keen.


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