Doom co-creator John Carmack under fire for allegedly taking ‘proprietary technology’ to Facebook’s Oculus VR

Quake developer John Carmack’s breakup with Zenimax might end in court.

Id Software, the company responsible for classic shooters Doom and Quake, and its parent company, Zenimax Media, are accusing Carmack of inappropriately taking intellectual property (as first reported by The Wall Street Journal via Engadget). The storied engineer joined virtual-reality startup Oculus VR in August, and Zenimax is claiming that Oculus is using technology that Carmack developed during his long career with id. Zenimax also claims that Oculus VR founder Palmer Luckey, creator of the groundbreaking virtual-reality headset, acknowledged in writing that he was only able to make the device work through the use of Zenimax-owned technologies.