John Carmack Just Left id Software to Focus on Oculus VR

John Carmack will focus entirely on Oculus VR.

We can't help but say woah! WHAT?!?

Polygon received an official statement from Bethesda announcing that id software co-founder and technical director John Carmack has handed in his resignation. According to the statement, Carmack will now focus all his attention on the role of chief technical officer at Oculus VR, which he assumed back in August.

'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,' Willits concludes.

Pete Hines, vice president of PR and marketing at Bethesda Softworks, added that Carmack 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 added.

Carmack hasn't said much on Twitter, only saying that he wanted to remain as a technical advisor for id Software, but it didn't work out. The decision to leave entirely was probably for the best anyway, he said, 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,' he tweeted.

Carmack follows president and former CEO Todd Hollenshead who left id Software this summer after a 17 year tenure. Id Software, made famous by the shooters Wolfenstein, Doom and Quake, was founded by Carmack in 1991 along with John Romero, Tom Hall and Adrian Carmack. The studio's latest game is DOOM 3 BFG Edition, which scored a 59 for the PC and a 67 for the console edition on Metacritic.