Doom Creator John Carmack Officially Leaves id Software

John Carmack, the programmer responsible for Doom, Quake, and more, 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. "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.”

[-Foxtrot]

Woah...never saw that coming

I'm guessing he didn't finish Doom 4 though before he left <sigh>

[badboy776]

Whatever You Do John. Don't Join Micro$oft!

[majiebeast]

Probably gonna be working full time at Occulus Rift.

[DeadManIV]

Hear! Hear!

[morganfell]

"I'm guessing he didn't finish Doom 4..."

Carmack didn't really work on Doom 4. It isn't what he did. He had not worked directly on games in a decade. Instead he designed the tech that was used in the game - the game engine and associated development tools.

[electricone85]

Why shouldn't he join microsoft?

[Double_O_Revan]

My same reaction. Wow. Thanks for all the memories John. Can't wait to see whatever it is that is big/important enough for him to leave.

[Sarcasm]

Really? He already made his intentions clear that he's going to focus on the Oculus Rift, some NASA projects, and other things. Doesn't look he's into game development as much anymore.

[ATiElite]

Yes the King is DEAD! I'm so tired of hearing about Carmack!

Granted Carmack is a Legend and needs to be in the Gaming HOF but he hasn't done anything relevant since Quake Doom Wolfenstein and that was back in the early 90's.

Oculus Rift is the best VR headset EVER so far but Carmack is not the inventor of VR as many Vr headsets have come and gone except NOW we have the proper technology to really push the hardware.

Good luck to Carmack and Good riddens as his off-beat quotes and stupid statements of late have really annoyed the gaming industry.

Also Valve is making a VR headset so Oculus Rift although very good will fall victim to Valves creation.

So to Carmack I say go buy a nice tropical island and stick your head in the sand because your Gaming days are DOOMED!

[Neonridr]

LOL, is anyone left now at id who helped start the company??

[Soldierone]

Yay, Doom 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, and 10 are all on their way now! Along with Quake through 13!

We might even see Rage 2, 3, and 4!

lol as you can see, I'm more afraid of the publishers at this point. He was the only one really holding them back from releasing titles, which is good and bad. Bad because it takes FOREVER to see a game, but good because we don't see yearly milk.....

[MadLad]

At the same time, we saw Doom 3 and Rage . . . are they really games we should be cheering from the rooftops about?
That was the last decade of ID.

I call into question the relevancy of the studio at this point.

[Soldierone]

Doom 3 was good for its time. Sure it isn't great and didn't have lasting appeal like it should have, but for its time it was awesome. It also spawned the new Quake which got over looked, but did everything better.

Rage on the other hand felt like it was just Carmack and the studio too bored to try anything.

[Baka-akaB]

Really ? yay to a Doom or quake without a carmack engine or involvement ? Nope . I've already seen what happened to ID software properties handled by other studios and folks , and it was very average .

At least ID could still recover under the right creator on Carmack tech , but now ?

Id is irrelevant now when it comes to games , and it just cements that imo when they loose their tech god .

[Soldierone]

The new Wolfenstein looks friggin awesome though, and the last one wasn't horrible. Like you said it was average, but Carmack was so uninterested in core games at this point it wouldn't make a difference.

Perhaps without him, someone new will step up and put ID back on the map.

[Redgehammer]

It's amazing what becoming reenergized creatively can do to a person.

[BABY-JEDI]

Thi guy is so going to push Occulus Rift into our eye balls. This may sound bad, but it's really a goods thing.
; )

[mydyingparadiselost]

Push the Occulus Rift into our eyeballs? Is that part of the next design revision...?

[Pintheshadows]

Yeah, it will be like the eyePhone in Futurama.

[pandehz]

Does it come with painkillers?

[Master-H]

Activision should hire this guy to make them a new COD engine. The Quake 3 one is getting ridiculously dated.

[AgitatedOcelot]

All Activision needs to do is take some of the billions of dollars they've milked out of COD and license a new engine. They can certainly afford it. There's lots of great engines to choose from these days.

They are just riding that investment into the ground.

COD needs to be retired. It's at a tipping point where it's going to descend into shovelware. Get a new engine, come up with a new IP. Do something inventive.

Or just keep shitting out more CoD, which is probably what they are going to do.

[newflesh]

But why should Activision make new engine for CoD, if this 10+ year old Quake 3 one is still bringing them millions and millions $$$? /s

[Sm00thNinja]

Thought you guys hated John Carmack? Remember he said PS4 and Xbone were equal in power and performance lol!

[LeShin]

Why do people on N4G think that if one person writes a comment who happens to own a particular console, everyone who owns that particular console must've wrote and thinks the exact same way? Do humans share a hive mind when connecting to these consoles?....

[solidsheep]

We dooooooooo. Join us!!!!! Must kill all xbox owner. Weeeee.

[TXIDarkAvenger]

The thing is, for the majority, its sadly true.

[Pintheshadows]

I know. I'll throw all of N4G into the same sweeping generalisation because I like to act like a 12 year old and think I am somehow superior by doing so.

Give it rest Sm00thNinja. Some of the stuff you have been coming out with today has just been agonising to read.

This man is a legend.

I think Sm00thNinja is struggling to grasp the concept of individuality LeShin. He thinks that all members of one group must be identical.

[Sm00thNinja]

I love John carmack don't get me wrong! And I apologize maybe I just have shiny new console syndrome I had it the week of the ps4. It'll go away give me a few days. I'm really happy with both my console purchases so I'm in defense mode for the Xbox Also I was being sarcastic I need to end my sentences with /s