John Carmack joins Oculus as chief technology officer

Legendary brain-box John Carmack has joined Oculus VR, the company behind Oculus Rift, as chief technology officer. He will apparently lead development from Oculus HQ in Dallas, Texas.

However, John Carmack will also remain in some capacity at the studio he co-founded in 1991, and is synonymous with, id Software.

Moments ago, Carmack tweeted: "My time division is now Oculus over id over Armadillo. Busy busy busy!"

Explained Bethesda to Eurogamer: "John will spend time working out of Oculus as part of his role with them, but he will also continue to work at id."

id Software is also based in Dallas, Texas.

Bethesda added: "John 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."

id Software tweeted to say much the same thing. "Happy to say [John Carmack] is not leaving id & will continue to provide leadership for our games in development," it wrote.

Exactly how he'll divide his time between id Software and Oculus, however, remains to be seen. At least he won't have to worry about his spaceship company Armadillo Aerospace, which was put in hibernation mode only this month.

In the press release sent by Oculus, Carmack commented: "The dream of VR has been simmering in the background for decades, but now, the people and technologies are finally aligning to allow it to reach the potential we imagined. I'm extremely excited to make a mark in what I truly believe will be a transformative technology."

It was John Carmack who announced Oculus Rift to the world at E3 in 2012, having acquired one to experiment with VR in Doom 3: BFG Edition.

Carmack's presentation sent Oculus Rift and its creator Palmer Luckey on a rollercoaster ride of success that is still picking up speed. I caught up with Luckey recently to hear the story of how Oculus Rift, the glasses that made this 20-year-old a millionaire, came to be.