Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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."

15 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 Servaas · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm quakeing in my boots at what he will accomplish next!

    2. 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.
    3. Re:The end of an era. by gameboyhippo · · Score: 5, Funny

      I'm not. I don't think gaming is doomed.

    4. Re:The end of an era. by binarylarry · · Score: 5, Funny

      John Carmack quit ID software!? I think I just wolfensteined my shorts.

      --
      Mod me down, my New Earth Global Warmingist friends!
    5. Re:The end of an era. by Scorchmon · · Score: 5, Informative

      He's the CTO for Oculus, developers of the Oculus Rift VR HMD. He already has his plate full, and the writing has been on the wall since August when he joined Oculus. Gaming has much more to gain from him now that he's no longer tied to the past and can put all of his effort into VR gaming.

    6. Re:The end of an era. by SethJohnson · · Score: 5, Interesting

      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.

      Armadillo Aerospace lost the race for the SpaceX prize. It didn't develop any compelling intellectual property that set it much apart from the other commercial offerings in space travel, so it's become an also-ran. There are no plans for it to do much of anything unless another tycoon comes along and injects vast sums of cash. Carmack is done floating it with his own personal wealth.

      His new passion is Oculus Rift. He brings great momentum to that project.

      His presence at iD and Oculus probably became strained due to Oculus wanting to be platform & engine independent, while iD would obviously want priority compatibility built into Oculus for their engine.

      --
      $5 / month hosted VPS on linux = awesome!
    7. Re:The end of an era. by Hadlock · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Armadillo was a profitable company (as in, showed a profit at the end of a fiscal year) with several different research contracts for NASA before it imploded due to mismanagement. I'm not sure what your ambiguous comment about "SpaceX Prize" means, do you mean the Lunar X prize? Armadillo never made a bid for the commercial crew program as far as I'm aware (where SpaceX is competing with two other, non-Armadillo affiliated companies).

      --
      moox. for a new generation.
  2. Long-timers leaving... Company shaken by bob_super · · Score: 5, Funny

    Is ID Doomed?

    1. Re:Long-timers leaving... Company shaken by bob_super · · Score: 5, Funny

      The feeling is Unreal. It's a Crysis.
      Yes I know these are from other companies, don't go calling me a Heretic.

  3. 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.

  4. Re:Doom 4 by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I wonder if Doom 4 will ever see the daylight.

    We all know that no Doom game will ever have daylight. Hell they barely have ambient light.

  5. 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.

  6. Re:Buying iD was a massive mistake by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Hi Romero, glad to see you're not still sour. - JDC

  7. Re:Buying iD was a massive mistake by Lisandro · · Score: 5, Informative

    Oh for crap's sake. I know i'm answering to a troll here, but if you don't understand how pivotal was Quake with its "out-of-date" software rendered back in the day then you clearly didn't live the 90s, where the only widespread GPU product out there was the S3 ViRGE. It single-handedly revolutionized the game industry and started a trend to use 3D, without GPUs... which didn't really become popular until Quake 2 showcased what could be achieved with them. 3DFX owes them pretty much all of their business, as everyone else then followed suit, including Romero which had to (yet again) rewrite his glorious Daikatana.

    Give credit where due. "Humiliates himself"? This guy was the major driving force for the FPS genre and the adoption of GPUs, and was coding state of the art game engines while you were still picking your nose. Doze off. Maybe 5 years for now you'll be raving about how good his VR headsets are.