A frustrated John Carmack resigned from his leadership role at Meta Platforms Inc.’s virtual reality unit, citing disagreements with company founder Mark Zuckerberg over strategy.
As he explained in his resignation letter, the games industry veteran had long been frustrated by Meta’s lack of operational efficiency, which he never felt adequately able to influence.
Prior to its acquisition by Meta – then still known as Facebook – in 2014, Carmack joined VR developer Oculus in 2013. Having started at Oculus as chief technology officer, he most recently served as executive consultant for VR at Meta, where he was a fierce critic of the company. To signal its commitment to developing a virtual 3D world, Zuckerberg renamed the company Meta.
“I have a voice at the highest levels here, so it feels like I should be able to move things,” Carmack said in the note. “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.
“The industry vet, whose company helped usher 3D graphics into PC video games with titles like Quake and Doom, added on Twitter that he found a “notable gap” in strategic thinking between himself and Zuckerberg. He believes “everything necessary for spectacular success is right there, but it doesn’t get put together effectively” at the company.
Meta has spent billions of dollars on its metaverse and VR project, and its Meta Quest 2 Virtual Reality headgear is widely considered one of the best products on the market. The company has said that the operating losses of their Reality Labs’ segment will grow significantly in 2023 which hasn’t been welcomed by investors looking for more cost discipline from tech companies.
What Bloomberg Intelligence Says
Alluding to earlier difficulties he’s had putting his voice into meaningful action within Facebook during his 10 years with the company (the first five were as cofounder), Carmack said in this note that he never could kill ‘st
