Strange and Possibly Grim Tidings Await Oculus VR, & Who Knows How VR Gaming Will Be Affected
Prey, Dishonored 2, Doom, Wolfenstein, The Elder Scrolls, Fallout; these are the names that fall under the ZeniMax umbrella. For well over a decade, the game publisher has produced plenty of notable software and drastically shaped the gaming industry. And now, their latest ground-breaking venture may be claiming Oculus.
As you may or may not be aware, ZeniMax has filed a lawsuit against Facebook-owned Oculus VR. So far they’ve accused Oculus of destroying evidence linking id Software to development of Oculus Rift, saying, “ZeniMax and id Software are the visionary developers of breakthrough VR technology, and look forward to the vindication of our claims.”  Oculus CTO John Carmack worked on Rift’s technology while he worked for id Software; thus, ZeniMax have extended their allegations to him and Facebook management.
These legal proceedings began as far back as May 2014, and have since–as you can see–severely escalated. Considering the size of this lawsuit, with 2 billion dollars at stake, ZeniMax must have some pretty damning evidence to back their accusations. How this will affect VR and gaming going forward, only time will tell.
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Oculus VR’s fiery statement at the commencement of litigation was as follows: “[Oculus] invested a wealth of time and money in VR because we believe it can fundamentally transform the way people interact and communicate. We’re disappointed that another company is using wasteful litigation to attempt to take credit for technology that it did not have the vision, expertise, or patience to build.” As a matter of fact, Carmack declares that he departed id Software specifically because he was not allowed to pursue VR.
Two more weeks of court proceeding will decide the fate of Oculus. Constant updates come courtesy of gamesindustry.biz.
Oculus is currently partnered with Microsoft, and that partnership presents another question mark in anticipation of court rulings. But we’ll keep you updated going forward. For more of the latest on gaming and industry, simply stay tuned to COGconnected. Happy gaming.