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John Carmack Leaves id Software

Posted by Soulskill on from the so-long-and-thanks-for-all-the-quake dept.

jones_supa writes "John Carmack has left id Software completely. 'John Carmack, who has become interested in focusing on things other than game development at id, has resigned from the studio,' id's studio director Tim Willits told IGN, and continues: '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.' Carmack, a co-founder of id, recently joined Oculus VR as Chief Technology Officer, and at the time remained at id Software in some capacity. Earlier this year, id president Todd Hollenshead departed id as well."

5 of 154 comments (clear)

  1. The end of an era. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Let's hope he sticks around somehow. Gaming would lose so much if he geniunely retired.

    1. Re:The end of an era. by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Pretty much every year at Quakecon, JC spoke about how he hated getting bogged down with business details and wanted to get back to working on low level hardware/software, decreasing latency etc. i.e. he had gotten way too high level for his liking and all of his projects were tinkering R&D type stuff - he seems to have always shrugged off management roles that were cast upon him. He complained one year that iD Software and Rage had torn him too far from Armadillo Aerospace and (commentating here) the company had sort of flatlined without him as a constant presence there.
       
      Wouldn't shock me to see him do a new start up company in the mobile games space and re-invest himself in Armadillo Aerospace again. iD software obviously had long been somewhere where he no longer fit in.

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
    2. Re:The end of an era. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well..... Source is still heavily Quake dependent (despite what those "gaben is best programer" fanboys say otherwise), and the later Call of Duty games (including Black Ops II and Ghosts) still have id Tech 3 as their foundation.

  2. Not as big a deal as you'd think by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    They made their money. id got bought by ZeniMax, the destroyer of worlds. Now that they're no longer independent, they don't have the freedom to experiment that is the hallmark of Carmack's approach to engine development. The higher-ups are leaving for greener pastures and the rank-and-file devs are thrown to the wolves. I've lived through too many acquisitions to expect anything less. id's days are numbered and everyone at the company knows it.

  3. If anything, this is expected news. by Gordo_1 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Most employees are more or less replaceable, but John Carmack for all intents and purposes *was* iD, at least in the early years when 3D graphics engines were in their infancy. When he announced he was going to be CTO at Oculus, it was obvious that he was really excited about the prospects over there, and was going to be winding things up at iD sooner or later. But he chose not to leave his old company in the lurch, and he transitioned at a pace that didn't screw them over in favor of the new. This is John Carmack exiting graciously.