Tag: carmack
John Carmack steps out of Meta’s VR mess
John Carmack is leaving Meta’s VR business. After a decade spent trying to “move things” within Mark Zuckerberg’s company, the co-creator of the FPS genre has decided to give up and pursue other interests with his own startup. Carmack’s final message, however, depicts a rather troublesome situation for his former…
Doom and Quake veteran John Carmack leaves Meta with “mixed feelings”
John Carmack is the co-founder of id Software and programmer for prolific games such as Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein 3D. The programmer and developer has long since left id, however, and has been working as consulting CTO for Meta since 2013. At least, he was until he announced his plans to leave Meta on Friday.
Via Business Insider, Carmack’s decision to leave the company was announced in an internal memo, which the publication describes as “scathing.” Reportedly, the memo was published to an internal workplace forum at Meta, with Carmack criticising Meta’s augmented and virtual reality efforts.
Carmack’s memo starts by saying, “This is the end of my decade in VR. I have mixed feelings.” He continues by stating that the Quest 2 is almost exactly what he wanted to see from the beginning, however, efficiency is an issue for Meta.
John Carmack resigns consulting post at Meta
John Carmack says Meta “constantly self-sabotage” their own VR efforts
John Carmack has left his positiion as Chief Technology Officer at Meta, saying that the company “constantly self-sabotage” in their virtual reality efforts and that he has “never been able to kill stupid things before they cause damage”. Carmack made the comments in an internal memo which was leaked to Business Insider (subscription required). Carmack says he’s now focusing his efforts on his artificial intelligence startup.
Legendary programmer John Carmack leaves Meta: ‘This is the end of my decade in VR’
John Carmack Resigns Meta VR Post, Leaves VR Industry, Criticizes Meta’s ‘Inefficiency’
“This is the end of my decade in VR,” Carmack wrote in an internal post (which he later reposted on Facebook).
“I have mixed feelings.”
Quest 2 [Meta’s VR headset] is almost exactly what I wanted to see from the beginning — mobile hardware, inside out tracking, optional PC streaming, 4k (ish) screen, cost effective. Despite all the complaints I have about our software, millions of people are still getting value out of it. We have a good product. It is successful, and successful products make the world a better place. It all could have happened a bit faster and been going better if different decisions had been made, but we built something pretty close to The Right Thing.
The issue is our efficiency…. We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort….
It has been a struggle for me. I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things, but I’m evidently not persuasive enough. A good fraction of the things I complain about eventually turn my way after a year or two passes and evidence piles up, but 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 think my influence at the margins has been positive, but it has never been a prime mover.
This was admittedly self-inflicted — I could have moved to Menlo Park after the Oculus acquisition and tried to wage battles with generations of leadership, but I was busy programming, and I assumed I would hate it, be bad at it, and probably lose anyway.
Enough complaining. I wearied of the fight and have my own startup to run, but the fight is still winnable! VR can bring value to most of the people in the world, and no company is better positioned to do it than Meta. Maybe it actually is possible to get there by just plowing ahead with current practices, but there is plenty of room for improvement.
Make better decisions and fill your products with “Give a Damn”!
Read more of this story at Slashdot.
John Carmack leaves Meta with a memo criticizing the company’s efficiency
John Carmack, the virtual reality pioneer who joined Meta from Oculus after its $2 billion acquisition, has left the social network. Business Insider first reported his departure, citing people familiar with the company, and published pieces of his internal memo that contained sentiments critical of Meta and its augmented and virtual reality efforts. After Insider’s and The New York Times’ reports came out, Carmack confirmed on Twitter and Facebook that he is indeed leaving the company and even published his note to staff members in full.
“This is the end of my decade in VR,” Carmack said in his memo. He started by praising the Quest 2 headset for being what he “wanted to see from the beginning,” with its inside out tracking, optional PC streaming, cost effectiveness and a screen with a resolution that’s nearly 4K. However, he argued that it could “have happened a bit faster and been going better if different decisions had been made.”
Carmack’s main issue with Meta seems to be the company’s efficiency — or, based on his memo, its lack thereof. “We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and squander effort,” he wrote. “There is no way to sugar coat this; I think our organization is operating at half the effectiveness that would make me happy.”
The executive said that as “a voice at the highest levels,” he felt like he should’ve been able to move things along, but he was “evidently not persuasive enough.” While he didn’t give detailed examples, Carmack noted that a good fraction of the things he complained about only turned his way a year or two after evidence of the issue had already piled up. “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,” he added. Carmack admitted near the end of the memo that he was “wearied of the fight” but that he still believes that “VR can bring value to most of the people in the world, and no company is better positioned to do it than Meta.”
As the executive said on Twitter, he makes it no secret that he has “always been pretty frustrated with how things get done at [Meta.]” In a podcast interview with Lex Fridman back in August, he said the $10 billion loss by the company’s AR and VR division made him “sick to [his] stomach thinking about that much money being spent.” He wrote posts on Meta’s internal messaging board criticizing its headsets’ features and the need to install software updates before being able to use them. Apparently, he was also pushing Meta to put immediate user experience first when it comes to how it wants build out its vision of the metaverse.
Carmack became Oculus’ first chief technology officer in 2013 after he left id Software, where he co-created the Doom and Quake franchises. He joined Meta when, as Facebook, it purchased Oculus for $2 billion back in 2014. In 2019, he took a step back from Oculus and acted as CTO only in a consulting capacity to focus on Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), or the kind of AI that’s capable of performing human tasks. His startup, Keen Technologies, is working on developing that type of AI systems.
As anyone who listens to my unscripted Connect talks knows, I have always been pretty frustrated with how things get done at FB/Meta. Everything necessary for spectacular success is right there, but it doesn’t get put together effectively.
— John Carmack (@ID_AA_Carmack) December 17, 2022
John Carmack is leaving Meta
John Carmack, a titan of the technology industry known for his work on virtual reality as well as classic games like Doom and Quake, is stepping down from his role as a consulting CTO at Meta, according to Business Insider and The New York Times.
Carmack originally joined Oculus as CTO in 2013, after helping to promote the original Oculus Rift prototypes that he received from Palmer Luckey, and got pulled into Meta when the company (then Facebook) acquired Oculus in 2014. However, in 2019, he took a reduced role at the company, stepping down as the CTO of Oculus to move into a new consulting CTO role.
At the time, he said he was going to go work on artificial general intelligence — and this August, we learned that work would not be for…
John Carmack expresses disappointment, caution in Metaverse progress
Oculus CTO, Meta “executive advisor,” and legendary game developer John Carmack articulated a healthy mix of skepticism and optimism for Meta’s development of VR and Metaverse applications this week. While he isn’t entirely satisfied with the company’s progress, he spoke positively about some advancements being made.