John Carmack’s name will stir up memories for a lot of people, especially if you experienced the 90s as a player. For others, it is mainly for his role in VR that we know him more recently, the person concerned having for some time been technical director consultant for Meta, since the acquisition of Oculus by Facebook. Except that we have just learned that he is slamming the door and he is not very tender with his former employer.
Featured image credit: Oculus VR
A bitter start
We must contextualize that John Carmack is not just anyone. He’s a big name in the tech industry, especially after working in virtual reality for several years. Previously, he was best known for founding iD Software and games such as Commander Keen, Wolfenstein 3D and Doom. His speech is therefore all the more important, as his departure from Meta is accompanied by a scathing note towards society. While it’s usually a good time to say that everyone was nice and that they liked their job, Carmack decides to offer his opinion instead.
We understand in particular in his letter, that he is tired of fighting against a giant who according to him pours billions into the Reality Labs division, in order to create virtual helmets and try to concretize their vision of the metaverse. The lack of efficiency of the metaverse seems to be the main reason for his departure.
It’s the end of my decade spent in virtual reality
He nevertheless remains satisfied with his work on the Meta Quest 2, despite a mixed reception from the public. Carmack thinks it’s a good product, but is weighed down by the decisions taken by Meta, in particular on the increase in the price of the helmet.
We have a good product. It’s successful, and successful products make the world a better place. Everything could have gone a little faster and better if different decisions had been made, but we built something quite close to the right thing. The problem is our efficiency.
Still according to him, the major problem is the lack of efficiency, while enormous means are implemented.
We have a ridiculous amount of people and resources, but we constantly self-sabotage and waste our efforts. There’s no other way to put it, I think our organization is operating at half the efficiency that would give me satisfaction. Some may scoff and claim we’re doing just fine, but others will laugh and say, “Half? Ha! I’m at a quarter of my efficiency!
He still remains positive about the application of VR in people’s daily lives. The technology, he says, will spread more and more in the future and Meta remains in a good position to help spread it.
His departure does not mark the end of his career, since he now intends to devote himself to artificial intelligence, with his company Keen Technology. A company he created last year in Dallas, to do research on AGI (Artificial General Intelligence). It is therefore a safe bet that we will still hear the name of John Carmack resonating in the near future.