Skip to main content

Oculus VR’s John Carmack to develop content for the Rift headset

oculus vrs john carmack develop content rift headset ces 2014
Image used with permission by copyright holder

There was little surprise in 2013 when former id Software lead John Carmack left the company for a Chief Technical Officer role at Oculus VR, and there is perhaps less surprise to hear now the new post doesn’t mean that Carmack hasn’t completely abandoned his game developer roots. Brendan Iribe, CEO of the company behind Oculus Rift, said as much in a CES 2014 interview with Engadget.

“He’s working on a lot of exciting tech … but, his heart and soul and history certainly lies in the game-development side,” Iribe said. “It’s been John Carmack’s philosophy — you gotta eat your own dog food here, and develop internal content also.”

Much of the software development focus right now at Oculus VR appears to be on developing a user interface that will come with the headset when it ships “later this year” (Iribe’s words). There’s no internal push at the moment to develop Oculus Rift games – that the company is willing to talk about, at any rate – but the CEO notes that he “wouldn’t be surprised” if more software followed the base UI.

Carmack will lead that charge, but he’ll be joined by others soon enough. Iribe notes that the Oculus VR careers page should be showing a lot more activity over the course of the coming year, and he expects to see bona fide game developers joining the company’s ranks before long. Such is the excitement for the Rift. Be sure to check out Engadget’s report for more on this exciting, rapidly growing presence in interactive tech.

Editors' Recommendations

Adam Rosenberg
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Previously, Adam worked in the games press as a freelance writer and critic for a range of outlets, including Digital Trends…
Oculus Rift S gets a release date, pre-orders are now available
Stock Photo of Oculus Rift S

The Oculus Rift S finally earned a release date at Facebook's F8 Conference on April 30: The company is now taking orders, and shipping is scheduled to begin on May 21. The Oculus Quest is also available for pre-order, with both headsets listed at $399 -- a considerable step up from Facebook's more affordable and portable option, the Oculus Go.

A successor to Oculus’ original virtual reality headset was first announced at the 2019 Game Developers Conference. On March 20, the VR company debuted its newest headset, the Oculus Rift S. Despite its simple name, the headset will offer a number of new features and improvements including an increase in resolution, improved tracking, and a feature called Passthrough Plus.

Read more
Mecha Break’s robot customization shakes up the battle royale formula
Mecha Break robot head with glowing blue eyes

Mecha Break isn't the kind of multiplayer game you can master right away.

You might equip a lance that you barely know how to use because it seemed like a good idea, and spend the rest of a round attempting to bash yourself into enemies to help your teammates. It incorporates action that's more similar to that of Armored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon than it is to the shooter-focused gameplay in Gundam Evolution, Bandai Namco's multiplayer mecha shooter that shut down last year. Overwatch does come to mind, but in a way where mechs are still the focus rather than the pilots within them.

Read more
Visions of Mana paints a promising picture of the RPG series’ return
Red-haired girl with horns and dragon wing in Visions of Mana

The vibrant settings and character designs in Visions of Mana instantly alerted me that I'd be knee-deep into fantasy, riding on the back of a giant black wolf into the grassy plains of Fallow Steppe. A lush landscape welcomed me as I chatted with my teammates on top of my mount and tussled with little woodland monsters.

I had this experience at this year's PAX East, where I went hands-on with a demo of the upcoming RPG. I never played previous Mana games, but I have enough experience with RPGs and real-time combat to name it one of the most gorgeous, action-packed games I played at the show. The shiny open-world and slick combat I experienced point to a strong comeback for the Mana series coming later this summer.

Read more