Case 6:21-cv-00755-ADA Document 61-6 Filed 05/20/22 Page 1 of 5
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`3/2/22, 1:02 PM
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`id co-founder Carmack pushes reality with Oculus VR
`Case 6:21-cv-00755-ADA Document 61-6 Filed 05/20/22 Page 2 of 5
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`TECH
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`id co-founder Carmack pushes reality
`with Oculus VR
`
`Mike Snider USA TODAY
`Published 1:16 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2014 Updated 1:20 p.m. ET Feb. 3, 2014
`
`Story Highlights
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`Carmack co-founded id Software in 1991 with John Romero and others.
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`After 22 years with id%2C Carmack left to join Oculus VR.
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`Virtual reality%2C he says%2C has promise for entertainment and productivity.
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`Legendary Doom creator John Carmack had high hopes he could combine his passion for
`video game development and next-gen virtual reality hardware by straddling both worlds.
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`Real world concerns got in the way.
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`At id Software, Carmack helped stoke development of video games with pioneering mega-
`hits such as Doom and Quake. He began tinkering with virtual reality headsets about two
`years ago, after id released its latest game, Rage.
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`In August, Carmack signed on as chief technological officer at Oculus VR, splitting his time
`between id and Oculus — the southern California startup turning heads with a prototype
`virtual reality headset called Oculus Rift. By November, he'd left id to devote his full time to
`Oculus.
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`His plans to combine his two interests did not play out the way he had hoped, Carmack told
`USA TODAY. Until now, he has not spoken in depth about his departure from id.
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`Carmack had hoped that Oculus VR and ZeniMax Media, the parent company of id Software,
`would agree to allow games he worked on to appear on the Oculus Rift headset. Had the deal
`been consummated, Wolfenstein: The New Order — an upcoming sequel to Wolfenstein 3D,
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`https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/03/john-carmack-on-oculus-rift/4938887/
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`3/2/22, 1:02 PM
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`id co-founder Carmack pushes reality with Oculus VR
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`an early id release — could have been part of the Oculus' tech demonstration that earned
`raves and awards at the recent Consumer Electronic Show.
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`Doom 4 eventually would have been part of the deal, too, and playable on the VR headset. "It
`would have been a huge win," says Carmack, who was still full time at id when he proposed
`the deal. "It seemed like a sensible plan for me."
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`ZeniMax declined comment for this story.
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`Another outcome of an Oculus-ZeniMax deal? Carmack would not have left id in November
`and would have continued working at both companies. "I would have been content probably
`staying there working with the people and technology that I know and the work we were
`doing," he says.
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`"But they couldn't come together on that which made me really sad. It was just unfortunate,"
`Carmack says. "When it became clear that I wasn't going to have the opportunity to do any
`work on VR while at id software, I decided to not renew my contract."
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`Carmack, 43, is now laser-focused on Oculus Rift pushing the VR envelope. Although Oculus
`VR is in Irvine, Calif., Carmack works out of the Dallas area, where id has been since 1992.
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`Virtual reality may have as big an impact as other technological advances Carmack has been
`part of. In addition to establishing first-person 3D games, id Software's titles also paved the
`way for the current online multiplayer gaming landscape and games such as Halo and Call of
`Duty. VR is an "experience people have wanted for decades," he says.
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`Carmack wasn't always so optimistic. After connecting with Oculus Rift creator Palmer
`Luckey on a 3D messaging forum, Luckey sent Carmack a prototype.
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`Carmack hot-glued a tracking sensor and duct-taped a ski goggle strap onto the prototype
`and tweaked a version of Doom 3 so that it played on the headset. Since demonstrating that
`in private sessions at the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo in L.A, Carmack has improved
`the image quality and head tracking.
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`While the initial Oculus Rift consumer product will target PC gamers, future uses could
`include even word processing, email and Minority Report-like functions. "It could become
`something that is potentially usable by almost anybody that carries a mobile device," he says.
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`Carmack's ability to engineer ways to milk peak performance from complex systems fits
`perfectly with VR, which still faces imaging hurdles.
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`https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/03/john-carmack-on-oculus-rift/4938887/
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`3/2/22, 1:02 PM
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`id co-founder Carmack pushes reality with Oculus VR
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`"John's early experiments with the Rift put Oculus on the map and helped create an amazing
`amount of momentum around virtual reality," Luckey, 21, said when Carmack joined the
`company.
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`The move helped stimulate Carmack, too. Programming for console and PC video games had
`become less interesting, he says, because "we have all the performance we ever dreamed
`about and then some."
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`In addition to pushing the technological envelope, id Software also changed the public
`perception of video game development. When it became publicized that he and id co-founder
`John Romero had each gotten Ferraris back in 1993 it was a signal that game designers could
`achieve rock star status.
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`While Romero played that part well, Carmack considered himself more of a "Mr. Spock"
`character. A Ferrari was logical, he says.
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`"It was great for me to go through all of my crazy Ferraris in my twenties. I think it was an
`inoculation against any kind of a midlife crisis," he says.."
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`Today, Carmack still drives a fast car, but it's a Porsche Cayenne SUV — a family vehicle for
`his wife and two sons, aged 4 and 9.
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`Leaving id is "bittersweet" he admits.
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`"We'd create majestic, wonderful things at the end that we have every right to be proud of,"
`Carmack says.
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`"While Oculus is still kind of scary fast in terms of all the people coming on there is still the
`sense that a handful of us are going to crunch really hard and get something done by next
`Thursday."
`
`——
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`'DOOM,' OTHER ID TITLES HELP PUSH GAME TECH
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`John Carmack and id Software, the video game development company he co-founded, helped
`spur an evolution in games. At Oculus VR, Carmack hopes to take gaming to the next level of
`immersiveness with virtual reality.
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`"I really do think VR is now one of the most exciting things that can be done in this whole
`sector of consumer electronic entertainment stuff," says Carmack, who is now chief
`technological officer at Oculus VR. "I've seen this when we transitioned from 2D games to 3D
`https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/03/john-carmack-on-oculus-rift/4938887/
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`id co-founder Carmack pushes reality with Oculus VR
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`games and everybody has seen the mobile transition, right now in the last five years. After
`you have been around for a while, you can notice some of the trends. It really feels like VR
`has the possibility to be something really huge."
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`Past developments led by Carmack and id:
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`First-person 3D games. id'sWolfenstein 3D game, released in 1991, is credited with
`ushering in first-person shooters. Before that most games were slow-moving with a top-down
`or 2D perspective. But it was 1993's Doomthat really popularized the genre. Games in the
`Doom franchise and the subsequent Quake series sold tens of millions of copies. And the U.S.
`Marines even used modified versions of Doom for training simulations. (No surprise that the
`U.S. Navy is experimenting with the Oculus Rift headset.)
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`Shareware. The reason it's hard to track exact sales of id's early games is that they used to
`give the game away. Players could download the game free online and pay to unlock higher
`levels – a precursor of the modern-day app world.
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`Multiplayer gaming.Doom let players connect to play online head-to-head or in four-
`person networked contests, which pushed the adoption of multiplayer connectivity for
`games. Subsequent games such as Quake, which let 16 players compete at the same time,
`pushed multiplayer features to what we have today.
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`Follow Mike Snider on Twitter: @MikeSnider.
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`https://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2014/02/03/john-carmack-on-oculus-rift/4938887/
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