Veteran developer, John Carmack has left Meta after 10 years at the company. He was overseeing the Oculus VR development as the consulting Cheif Technology Officer.
After co-creating Doom and Quake franchises at id Software, Carmack joined the virtual reality company, Oculus VR in 2013 as its first Chief Technology Officer. When Meta (former Facebook) acquired Oculus VR for $2 billion in 2014, he joined Meta and continued as the VR division’s CTO.
However, Carmack took the role of consulting CTO in 2019 to focus on Artificial General Intelligent (AGI) tech which is capable of carrying out human tasks and created a startup called “Keen Technologies” to develop AGI systems.
Meta VR team constantly self-sabotage and squander efforts
Carmack confirmed his departure for the Meta after the news was leaked online by people familiar with the matter. He posted the note to staff on social media which was critical of the company’s management marred by inefficiencies.
He wrote that it was the end of his decade in VR and praised the Quest 2 headset as it was what he “wanted to see from the beginning.” He also accepted that the device could have been released faster and could have been better if different decisions were made and blasted the company for lack of efficiency.
“We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort. There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”
Carmack lamented his inadequacy of not being persuasive enough to get meaningful changes implemented or stop damaging ideas. But maintained that no other company was capable of delivering VR experience like Meta.
“As a voice at the highest levels, I was evidently not persuasive enough.”
“I have never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage, or set a direction and have a team actually stick to it. I am wearied of the fight. VR can bring value to most of the people in the world, and no company is better positioned to do it than Meta.”
Apple is also expected to launch its first mixed reality headset with AR and VR combined technology in early 2023 and compete with Meta Oculus headsets which already dominate the VR market.
via Engadget
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